The Outspoken
by hermione-amelia-rose1479
Summary: Astoria Greengrass,Outspoken, Fiery, Deadly. What could this girl, who wants nothing to do with Draco Malfoy, have everything to do with him?
1. 1992

A/N: Hey guys, this is my other child. I'm a Drastorian so bear with me, i'm trying to get the dates and events as accurate as possible. Sorry to any Brits, if you were alive in 1981 and remember August 13, im pretty sure it wasn;t a friday, i did all this research on dates in England and some of them didn't work out so :(

* * *

Astoria

Part 1: The Birthday

Astoria was always the black sheep of the family. Her family was notorious for being either Ravenclaws and Slytherins, seeing as she was born into a notorious pureblood family.

Astoria Artemis Greengrass was born on the 13th of August 1981, a Friday. Her birth was already a bad omen to her parents, her mother, Celeste, was a Slytherin and was keen in divination. The Greengrass family was known for it's raven hair, their sapphire eyes and their flawless pale skin. Though through some unknown gene, Astoria had a metallic-dark ash-grey hair and her eyes were a clear grey. Astoria was always the one who was left out, Daphne. It was always about perfect Daphne, she was the quintessential Greengrass, spoilt and totally destined into Slytherin. But at least, Daphne cared for Astoria.

17th of May 1988 Daphne's 8th Birthday

"Papa, Papa!" Perfect Daphne ran into her father's arms, merely dressed in her laced night gown, and her pink night robe wrapped around her . Astoria trudged slowly down, in her purple t-shirt and her blue pants, her bed socks still on her feet and her dolly still in her arms. Astoria was only 6, but she was already shunned aside for perfect Daphne. Astoria stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the amount of wrapping paper piled up around her. She pulled out dress after dress, doll after doll and delight after delight from the boxes, exclaiming with delight after every single one. But Astoria knew what was in it for her, if Daphne didn't like anything, in the privacy of their room, she would give her some of her gifts, her parents didn't mind, they were a bit tight when it came to giving presents, even for Daphne. Celeste vanished the objects into Daphne's room and her husband; Orion, vanished the wrapping paper.

-Later-

"No, too blue. I only want pink." Daphne pulled out all the non-pink dresses out of the 20, which was about 9 and then continued to the dolls. All Daphne wanted was the Barbie dolls, so the other dolls, even the antique ones were placed on Astoria's growing horde.

"Daph, are you sure?" Astoria was now getting genuinely worried, the pile was nearly evenly split. But Daphne was generous, despite her spoilt persona.

"Yeah, I'm not going to use them anyway" *sigh* Astoria figured out that Daphne just didn't waste stuff

"Okay, now, I don't want any of these, or these, or these" Daphne gave her several jewels, shoes and a few other little goodies.

"Now, that leaves the rest for me. Bye" Daphne stalked out of the room. Astoria was prepared for the pile, so she pulled the trolley out of her room, pushed it back into Daphne's room and hauled the items back into her room.

Sorting the items back, she saw some really good things in there, but Daphne would perpetually want pink. All Astoria's mature 5 year old mind could think about was why Daphne would want to throw them away

13th August 1992 Astoria's 11th Birthday

"Mother, Father, Daphne sister." Astoria coldly greeted the family who sat before her. This is was where the schism lay. Astoria would always be left out, and Daphne would be the only one there in their eyes.

"Astoria. _Darling"_ Her parents may be unfair, but they tried. _Tried_ to be fair on her birthday. But there was still an applied pressure upon it. Her father still drawled when he spoke either way

"_Darling_ these are your gifts" Celeste pointed to a small pile of gifts, smaller that Daphne's. Her family continued to eat their fried egg, sausage and toast, while a house elf served more food and drinks. Astoria sat in front of empty fireplace, opening her gifts.

"Mother, _Thank you_ for these lovely clothes, I will take care of them." Astoria stoically replied

"You should Astoria _dearest_, look at Daphne; her clothes are in perfect condition." Celeste had no space for her youngest spawn

Her clothes weren't exactly the best, Daphne had the best, but she had to do with the ones she was given. Personally, Astoria was fascinated with muggles, and their clothing type. When her parent were out for the day, she would sometimes nip to the muggle library in London and watch some of this muggle TV show: Doctor Who. Astoria would go to muggle stores and using her pocket money, buy some clothes for herself.

"Father, thank you for the book." Orion had given her a brainwashing book on pureblood supremacy, as a last ditch attempt to change her.

"Yes, _Daughter_. I am sure you will do well." Orion was perhaps the only one who didn't mind Astoria, he was a Ravenclaw who defied the hat. The Hat had tried to get him into Gryffindor and Slytherin, but he would've never joined the house of green and silver. Orion hated the formalities, he wanted to call her dearest, but his wife would never live for that.

"Mother, Father. I will retire. I shall eat later." Astoria curtly greeted them and tread to her room. She placed her clothes into her wardrobe and her book on her book shelf. She would be attending Hogwarts the year after. In the meanwhile she merely sat in her room, drawing.

"Tori? I have your gift." Daphne had a soft spot for her sister, but in truth, she sun basked in all the attention

"Yeah, can't be as bad as the out-dated clothes. "

"Here. I got it for my eleventh and I never really liked it. So I figured you could have it." Daphne pulled out a velvet pouch of black and undid the silver thread. Daphne delicately took out the pearl choker and the breath caught in Astoria's throat.

"Daph- I couldn't. Father and Mother" Astoria was stuttering. She remembered when Daphne got this, it had a large pear-cut diamond in the centre, but there was now a large sapphire.

"You think you're the only one to rebel. I'm not in Slytherin for nothing you know. I won't be surprised if you're not a Gryffindor. I got Bubble gum" Bubble gum was the house-elf. "To take it to the Jewellers at Diagon Alley to add the sapphire and I have more for you. I want to go to Diagon Alley, interested?"

"Yeah, HELL YES" Astoria was the one who waited for adventure and this was it. Astoria and Daphne got changed into muggle clothes with their cloaks. Daphne in her pink dress with flats and bag with Astoria in her purple t-shirt, skinny jeans and converse. They ran down the steps and Astoria waited for Daphne to finish buttering her parents up.

"Yes, but we will pick you up." Orion said and he dismissed the girls. They left the house and entered into the rich upper class London street.

"Now Tori. Let's take the bus. Have you bought your money?" Daphne asked her sister

"Yes… honestly, I really want to go shopping" Astoria was getting irritated, she really wanted to go

"Okay." Daphne held out her left hand, wand clutched. Daphne was left handed. Then, a sudden bang and the triple-decker bus appeared. This would be one hell of a bus ride

Part 2: Diagon Alley

Several bumpy minutes later, they arrived in Diagon Alley. Daphne took Astoria first to Gringotts where they withdrew some money, as they had instructions to prepare for the Christmas ball at their parent's house. Daphne then drew Astoria to Madam Malkin's, if they could find a pre-made dress, they would buy one there, but if unable, Twillfitts and Tattings would be the place to go for a tailor made-dress. They entered the first store and began their hunt.

"Ah, misses Greengrass. Shopping for a dress I presume?" Madame Malkin greeted the pair

"Hello Madam Malkin. Yeah, we're looking for a Christmas Ball gown for my family's party; it's our turn this year" Daphne could be nice, when she wanted, but she had a bond with Madam Malkin

"Wait, hang on, _we're_, but I'm never invited" Astoria protested

"Ah, 11 now are we. Not to worry dear, when you are 11, you are invited to attend. It's tradition." The old lady replied kindly

"Oh, okay. So, any suggestions?" Astoria was freaking out. She would rather not go, but it would be cool

"Yes. Daphne, you have a figure most girls older than you don't have, so I think this one" The lady pulled out a figure fitting full length dress in a dark-rose shade. Daphne was squealing and promptly bought it.

"You dear, it's your first ball and impressions are in order. So, I think if I do a special one for you.."

"No, that's not necessary!" Astoria was trying to be modest, but the idea of outshining her sister intrigued her

"No. Come here, we'll get you measured." Astoria was standing on a stool, being measured, feeling uncomfortable.

Thank God Daphne had an eye for design, the talent to a leftie certainly applied to her. There were several words between them and after at least an hour, they had finished and they were allowed to leave the store.

"Hey Daph, I'm going this way." Astoria pointed to Flourish and Blotts and Daphne nodded

"I'll be there in 5 minutes okay, then we'll go pig out on ice-cream" Daphne ran towards Twillfitt and Tattings to send her parent's ideas for their robes

* * *

Astoria was looking in the books, wishing she could go to Hogwarts sooner. But then she accidentally bumped into a girl with bushy-hair and large front teeth, she looked quite intelligent and quite nice, perhaps in Daphne's year. But she had knocked out the books in her hand and she rushed to pick them up.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I am really sorry, seriously, I am really sorry." Astoria was getting flustered as she helped her pick up books

"Oh it's okay. Are you starting Hogwarts this year?" Hermione asked

"No, but I am next year."

"Oh, I'm Hermione Granger by the way, and you are?"

"Astoria Greengrass." By chance Daphne had turned up, from her expression, she looked friendly, if not, civil with Hermione

"Hello Hermione." Daphne greeted her brightly

"Oh, Daphne, So, this is your little sister?"

"Yeah, that's Astoria."

"Well I'll guess I'll see you at Hogwarts" Hermione waved goodbye and went off to search for her parents.

Astoria was then picked up by both her parents, who were eternally praising Daphne's dress choice. Astoria would have to wait for her's to be completed, so that it would be sent to her. If Anything, she dreaded the party.

Part 3: The Ruby Light

Astoria had received her dress merely hours before as she was getting ready for the Party. She had never really known what she would be getting, but her breath was taken away when Madam Malkin had sent her a stunning ruby-red dress, perfect for the party. It was floor length and sort of moved out from her hips, there were diamond embellishments and there were elaborate folds on the bodice.

Daphne had heard the sound of Astoria's gasp and entered her room.

''And you thought I would get you a Slytherin-themed dress. Mother and Father approve, but, I think it brings the inner Gryffindor out of you." Astoria's mind blanked further, Daphne, approving of her being a Gryffindor. That was killing her

"Thanks. OH MY GOD THANKS!" Astoria hugged Daphne who laughed. "It's okay, one more thing for you. I got you a pure mink coat, that way you can contemplate in peace." With that _illuminating_ note, Daphne left the room.

Astoria was definitely getting purely excited. She had her hair done is simple, soft curls, her hair line parted to the right. She wore simple diamond jewellery and her red, low heels. This was her time to shine and no one was going to take it away from her.

* * *

_Astoria's Father began to talk, his loud voice carrying through the heavy oak doors of their winter mansion, in the country. "And now my youngest daughter; Astoria Artemis Greengrass"_

The oak doors opened and she was revealed to the large crowd, above the grand staircase. She carefully took her steps down the stairs; looking haughty, she _was_ a Greengrass after all. She noticed a young boy, in Daphne's year, staring at her, he was pale and blonde. Bleach blonde perhaps, reaching the bottom of the stairs, Daphne gave her a thumbs up.

The rest of the night passed with a blur, she was bored out of her wits, so she took her coat and sat outside, amongst the hedges on the stone seat, hoping to be invisible. The boy from earlier came and sat next to her, how he found her, she had no idea.

"So, you're the baby Greengrass." It wasn't a question. It was a statement

"Yes. Problem?" Astoria was irritated, no one, no one in the entire of the cosmos, was allowed to call her a baby

"No need to be so harsh. I'm Draco Malfoy." Draco was trying to be charming, trying to get rid of the impression he had just made

"Oh. That arrogant toerag who supposedly rules the Slytherins? I suppose your minions aren't here to stop me from jinxing you?" This was going to be war. WAR. Daphne didn't like Draco, he was rude to the to the other Slytherins and apparently he bullied too. No one was going to bully next year. Why? Because Astoria Artemis Greengrass was going to be there to stop him

"Arrogant toerag am I? Well, enfant, you have a lot to learn" Draco was turning red, getting angry

"Well, my sources tell me that you bully to. And no, I repeat, NO bully is getting past me. You arsehole, go die in a hole of Troll shit." Astoria was certainly foul-mouthed for a 'innocent' 11 year old, but then again Astoria was an archer who wished she could blow things up with magic. Innocent alright.

She flounced away from the boy and then she added "Oh, I think you went too extreme when you were bleaching your hair. It's TOO obvious ferret" well. He did look like a ferret, once she reached the stairs into her mansion

"it's Natural!" he hollered back at her

Astoria merely got changed into her night clothes and slept. This Malfoy was going to have hell to pay when she got there.

* * *

A?N: PLEASE R&R I GET HEAPS OF HITS AND VISITORS AND HARDLY ANY REVIEWS. I NEED REVIEWS AND PMs

Oh, please tell me if the set out's okay, i don;t have a beta, but i try to make the lay out as simple as possible. Coz i'm so excited about this, i'm uploading the next one within the next 3 days :)


	2. 1993 part 1

A/N: Haha, shout out to the peeps who have reviewed this: Rainbowspring, 'MioneEmma14 and Bucky5

Oh, Just to clarify, it may not be all that canon, because i need to add a couple of things...

DISCLAIMER: BLANKET RULE. AS MUCH AS I FANTASISE, I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER :(

* * *

Part 1: Diagon Alley

August 20th 1993- Astoria's Letter

_Dear Miss Astoria Artemis Greengrass,_

_You Have Been Accepted to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry_…

Astoria knew the rest, She had re-read Daphne's list when she got it. She was currently sitting under Florean Fortescue's umbrella, outside his shop. Chocolate and Pistachio were her forever favourite flavours. Daphne was a 3rd Year and she hardly needed any new books except for her new electives, so she volunteered to buy a couple of her items, as her parents told her to use Daphne's old books. Astoria noted the irony, The Greengrass family was rich, but they seemed to only spend money on Daphne. As much as she loved Daphne, but it was still unfair to her.

"Tori, I got everything, that just leaves your robes and your pet" Daphne was giddily happy, though it may be about her new 'boyfriend' Daphne was flirty alright.

"Wait, they're letting me get a pet?" Astoria was confused now

"Yeah, but owls are the best, they'll probably only let you get that." Daphne said cheerily. Oh god, she probably was high on her boyfriend

"Okay, so Madam Malkin's first?" Astoria finished her sundae and they went off to the dressmaker. Entering the small store, Astoria ran to the dressmaker and hugged her, thanking her for the dress from the year previously.

"It's alright dearie, now your robes" Madam Malkin began to measure her and by the time they had finished, she refused to let Astoria pay the full price. After an embarrassing 5 minutes they left the store in pursuit of an owl. They entered the Eyelops Emporium, and Astoria had a choice of owls

"Daph, what do you think of this one?" Astoria picked out a beautiful, smart looking tawny owl with amber eyes.

"Yeah, why not?" Daphne was impressed by this owl

"Okay, Miss, I'll take her" Astoria carried her and picked up a cage, to the counter

"That'll be 4 galleons, and this cage comes with the treat pack" The witch handed over a couple of Owl nuts box.

"Okay, thanks." Astoria carried the things over to Daphne who promptly sank into a chair infront of Florean Fortescue's store

"Tori, you need to get a wand so…." Daphne made a shooing gesture and Astoria obliged. She was probably there to wait for her 'boyfriend'

* * *

Part 2: The Phoenix Feather

The tinkle of bells were heard as Astoria nervously entered the store.

"Miss Greengrass, alone, now are we" Ollivander's silver-grey orbs for eyes stared at her, Astoria couldn't help but think that this guy must be a bit of a Paedophile.

"Yeah…" Astoria replied unsurely. Sirius Black was on the loose, her parents must've thought she'd be safe

"I remember your mother's wand. 13 inches, blackwood and dragon heartstring, unyielding. Then your father was a pear and unicorn tail, 12 inches, flexible and your sister's wand was cherry with unicorn, 12 inches." Ollivander recalled the wands he sold, as he pulled out a box, no doubt, containing a wand.

"Let's try this…" The wand felt wrong in her hands, waving it, the wand was promptly snatched out of her hands

"No, no, okay…" The process was continued at least 20 times, each time the wands were steadily being placed on to the rickety old chair at the back of the store.

"No. Tricky one aren't you, I've always saved this wand for tricky people just like yourself" Ollivander walked to one of the back shelves at the top of the loft. He returned with a black box, with silver filigree work on the hasp, as far as she could tell, the box was made of dragon hide.

"This one is very special, it was one of the first wands I had ever made, after the business was passed down from my father, to me." He held the wand out very reverently and gave it to Astoria, she waved the wand and felt a warm sensation go up her arm, gold and purple sparks emitting from the end. This was her wand.

"Ah, Ash and Phoenix feather, 12 ½ inches precisely. Unyielding. I must say, Black Walnut and Phoenix feather make quite the pair, the owner must be quite stubborn and bold for this wand." He looked at her and Astoria couldn't help but feel proud of her wand, her family's cores had always been unicorn or dragon heartstring and before Ollivander had introduced the main 3 cores, powerful substances. But never the phoenix.

"Now miss, that'll be 7 galleons." He placed the wand back into the case and wrapped it up in brown package paper and gave it to her in exchange for the large gold coins. Leaving the store, she felt as if there had been a great weight lifted from her shoulders, something wasn't right about that store, perhaps it was the magic of it. Daphne took her back home and Astoria merely locked herself in her room all break. It was obvious she would always be different

But that was the turning point for her. She was sick and tired of trying to fit in, if she was going to annoy her parents. She would do it with a bang, gone was the meek Astoria, she was going to rebel.

* * *

Part 3: The Train Trip

Astoria had successfully irritated her parents all break and they had happily _dumped_ her at the station. Daphne had _ditched_ her in search of her Ravenclaw boyfriend, who she shared a common room with and she was now left all alone.

Astoria picked one of the compartments at the back, one of them had a strange man sleeping in it, perhaps he was the new DADA professor, rumour had it the job was jinxed. Hermione waved at her as she and a couple of her friends entered that compartment, so far, she was all alone.

"Excuse me, do you mind, I'm sorta a loner here" The girl she looked up at was a first year too, she had a tanned caramel tone- skin, which matched her chocolate brown eyes, which seemed quite mysterious and mystical. Her long black hair was left out, her side fringe parted to the left. She was medium height, probably a metre 50 or so, she looked as if she could kick ass, judging by the way she wore her black skinny jeans, cream converse, denim jacket and purple tee.

"Yeah sure." Astoria seemed quite impressed with this girl, she looked quite nice.

"I'm Alexandra Francisco, but please, call me Alex." She held out her hand to shake and Astoria took it gladly

"I'm Astoria Greengrass" she replied, they sat back casually against the window, legs sprawled out on the seat, they pulled down the blinds in front of the door, it was slightly awkward having a girly talk with older people staring at you. "So, are you a muggle born?" Astoria knew that there weren't any recent Francisco's in Wizarding genealogy.

"Yeah, but I did a bit of research and my line had just died out for a bit." Alex seemed quite happy about it

"What house are you hoping to get into?" Alex asked her

"I honestly don't know. But not in Slytherin." Astoria said with disgust

"Hell yeah." Alex agreed

"I'm Filipino, hence the awkward stares at me" Alex didn't look Filipino, but it made sense

"And I'm part French. Who cares?"

Astoria spent the rest of their time explaining to Alex, things about the wizarding world, particularly Quidditch, seeing as Alex only knew a bit. The food trolley was fun, as they both were epic sweet tooths.

"Hang on… Are we stopping?" Alex said, she stared out the window and the castle was nowhere near site.

"It's too early…" Astoria checked her watch

"Why do I feel cold…." Alex was shivering

"Me too…." Astoria replied, they had tears streaming from their eyes, like they would never be happy again the door suddenly unlocked and a dementor appeared. Astoria knew all about them and she screamed at it

"LEAVE US IN PEACE. WE HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE!" The dementor, taking sense, left and Alex slammed the door close.

"Here have some chocolate." Astoria handed over a piece of chocolate and they scoffed it down

"What the fucking hell was that!" Astoria confirmed that Alex could kick ass, she swore and she had only turned 11 on the 14th of July

"It's a dementor. Dark Creature. They suck out the happiness from you, if you're really unfortunate, they kiss you." Astoria replied grimly

"KISS YOU. WHAT SORT OF FUCKING WRONG CREATURE IS THAT?" Alex was definitely creeped out

"They suck your soul out. You exist as merely an empty shell." Astoria and Alex shuddered and they contented themselves by eating more chocolate. The door opened again, Hermione entered looking very worried

"Astoria, are you alright? I was on my way to see the driver." She too looked shaken

"We're just really creeped out" Alex said

"Okay, according to professor Lupin. The teacher in our compartment" she added to their confused looks "They say they were looking for Sirius Black, it was a mandatory check"

"Oh." They said in unison

"Well, sorry your first year had to pass like this, but the feast will be better." Hermione tried her best grin at them and she left, gently closing the compartment door, but it was thrust open again by Daphne

"ASTORIA, YOU'RE ALRIGHT!" Daphne Hugged her, then hugged Alex. "Oh, I'm Daphne, Astoria's older sister."

"I'm Alex" Alex told her

"Well, try not to panic, they've gone, just eat more chocolate. They help you recover from dementors you know" Daphne left the room, closing the compartment door.

"We should change" Astoria said

"Yeah." Alex agreed and they pulled out their robes, excited that they could go somewhere they would belong

* * *

Part 4: The sorting hat's decision

Astoria and Alex's boat ride had been quite bumpy and they had a breathtaking view of the castle. But now, they had to face the sorting. One by one they were being called up to the stool

"Francisco, Alexandra" Professor McGonagall called out and Alex nervously moved to the front and the hat was placed on her head

_Alex's POV_

_"Ooh, there's bravery, what's that, stubborn too, You'd make a wonderful Ravenclaw, but Slytherin suits you well too. No, what else, loyalty, that's huge, Hufflepuff could work too, but no what is it?"_

_"Please, not Slytherin. I'd Rather DIE" Alex mentally challenged the hat_

_"Well, well, well, You are arguing with the hat that definitely narrows it. Better be:_

_"GRYFFINDOR !" The hat shouted out. And Alex happily joined the table of red and gold_

There were a couple of boys before she was called out. McGonagall placed the hat on her head and the Hat began it's magic

_"Oh, defiant. That's strong, but Slytherin would work brilliantly no… Well, loyal one aren't we, smart too. But you've been shunned, you won't be shunned anymore if you join…"_

"GRYFFINDOR!" Astoria was so happy, she didn't care about the pin-drop silence, but Daphne began to whoop and soon, the rest of the hall began to clap in relief. Alex moved down a seat and Hermione was to her right.

"Well done!" she said and she continued her conversation with her 2 guy friends

"hey, Hermione" Astoria had an idea

"Yeah?"

"Daph told me if I ever needed a tutor, to go to you, so if I get stuck, can you help me out?" Astoria bit her lip

"Sure, just owl me or tell me, we'll figure it out" she said and they ended their conversation.

The feast passed along relatively well, she and Alex practically groaned when it came to dessert. Soon it was time to be led up the stairs to the dorms, her dorm was to the right.

"Wow!" was her reaction when she entered the red dorm. It was furnished in red velvet sheets, contrasting to the dark maple wood. There were 2 large windows, one to the left, another to the right, making a bit of 'territory' between to 4 beds, the centre between them was occupied by a coal heater in the middle of the room and the large basin with mirror. Their stuff was already there, and their pets. There was a door, obviously leading to their toilets and shower.

"Oh. Hi, I'm Laura" The small brunette who had just joined them introduced herself. She was be freckled and had the most startling blue eyes

"I'm Cecile" The tall blonde waved, they all went to their respective beds, Laura and Cecile to the right and Astoria and Alex to the left, closest to the ensuite.

"I'm Astoria" she introduced

"I'm Alex" Alex said. "We should get some sleep"

"yeah" the other girls agreed, they changed into their night clothes and fell instantly asleep

* * *

Part 5: Howlers

Astoria and Alex went down to breakfast the moment they had started with their eggs and sausage, a red letter appeared in front of her, courtesy of the family owl; Chiron.

"What is that?" Alex asked

"Wizarding version of telling kids off. In a horrible way may I add. It's a howler"

"makes sense"

Then Astoria opened the letter and it screeched at her. Astoria wanted to make an impression, she sprinted to the middle of the Great Hall and let the entire of Hogwarts hear it

"ASTORIA ARTEMIS GREENGRASS, HOW DARE YOU BE SORTED INTO GRYFFONOR! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO ONE OF THE PUREST FAMILY LINES IS ALL OF THE WIZARDING WORLD. YOU HAVE DISGRACED YOUR FOREFATHERS AND OUGHT TO BE DISOWNED, IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE THREAT OF THE LINE DYING OUT, YOU WOULD BE. THE MOMENT YOU COME HOME, YOU BETTER PREPARE YOURSELF YOUNG LADY, BECAUSE I AM THREATENING TO TAKE YOU OUT OF THAT SCHOOL AND SEND YOU TO BEAUXBATONS. IF IT WEREN'T FOR DAPHNE, I WOULD'VE.!" The letter instantly disintegrated. Everyone in the Hall was looking at her, with every word, the smirk on Astoria's face grew bigger and bigger, she then told everyone in the hole.

"Problem with that?" she and Alex then left the hall and they moved to their first lesson; DADA. At least Malfoy knew what sort of person he would be dealing with now.

* * *

a/n: Haha, okay, please r&r. I would really appreciate it, i've had 39 views for this and i would be happier if i had 39 reviews for this instead of just 3. shout out to those who've reviewed my other stories


	3. 1993 part 2

A/N: Hey guys, okay, you may notice that i'm updating earlier than usual, that's coz i'm on Holidays, here in Australia, this is our term break before term 3 (explaining: we don't have winter breaks, just term holidays, oh an we start in January coz it's 40 degrees then :) {in Celcius}). Sorry that there isn't too much Drastoria... yet... Right now I'm building up... okay

Disclaimer: Nup, don't own any characters/plots/etc. Except for my oc's

* * *

Part 1: Malfoy and Hippogriffs

Astoria had been at Hogwarts for at least 3 hours, before Malfoy had caused a scene. She was on her way to the loo when she saw him walking up the stairs with a horde of his lot.

"Hey ferret, what did you do to your arm?" Astoria asked

"None of your business" he said when he got up close, a pug faced girl seemed to be supporting him. This was probably that Pansy Parkinson chick, who apparently 'worshipped' Malfoy, according to Daphne

"What'ya do to it?" Alex asked in her sweetest voice, then, giving Astoria a cheeky 'look' Astoria said to Malfoy:

"Malfoy, what did you do, insult a Hippogriff?" she and Alex laughed hard, Alex had read about them. But Malfoy seemed to turn pink… that was _his_ form of blushing

"Oh" said Astoria

"My" Alex said

"GOD!" they both said in unison

"Did you actually insult a Hippogriff!" Alex laughed so hard that she was streaming tears from her eyes. Alex was reading up quite a bit on the Wizarding world since she had received her letter

"Oh, that's thick, coming from a mudblood." To the Slytherins, this was perhaps the funniest thing they had ever heard

"Oh no you didn't Malfoy" Alex charged at him and pulled a very old looking ceremonial knife out of her jeans pocket, she never wore skirts as she said it was 'against' her 'religion', the dagger, judging by the craftsmen ship, was definitely goblin made. Astoria told Alex about the whole Bigotry thing and Mudbloods, and Alex, well… Didn't take it too well

Malfoy was standing up against a wall, held a knife point. Where was that Creevy bloke now, who took pictures. The other Slytherins were standing far away, too scared of what was happening

"You. Did not. Call me a mudblood. Because. If It was legal. You. Would. Be. In. atoms. Right. Now." Alex's face was slightly below Malfoy's, he was slightly taller than her. She pushed on the gash, the one that was deepest on his shoulder. He whined in pain. Alex added one more thing. "Oh. I don't see what you're whining about. I'll tell Creevy about this. Right now, the only thing stopping me from murdering you over a million times is the Law and Snape." She cut him on the arm, lightly and then she and Astoria walked back to class, Alex flicking her long, black hair before she left and to Astoria's delight, it hit Pansy in the face.

"Right. Next time I annoy you, remind my your armed and dangerous" Astoria said

Alex laughed

Part 2:

So far, Lupin had to be the best teacher ever. Their encounter with Malfoy had been during Charms, now they had Potions. From what Astoria heard, Snape was Evil. Pure Evil. He didn't even like the Ravenclaws.

"Miss Greengrass. What is a bezoar?" Snape asked in his dull, monotone voice

"A stone found in the stomach of a goat, it heals you from most poisons." Astoria nervously replied. Snape nodded and Alex gave her a thumbs up. Snape obviously saw that and then attacked Alex.

"Miss Francisco. If I were to ask you what the Polyjuice Potion was. What would you say?"

"From what I've read sir. The Polyjuice Potion, if brewed correctly will disguise you as the person you desire, provided you have their hair and they're human." Alex replied with slight enthusiasm. The class was silent. Snape's smug expression became shocked. It was Hermione Granger all over again.

"Good. 5 points to Gryffindor. Make note First Years. I do not give points." Snape said dismissively. The rest of class was tense. At least the two of them had successfully brewed the cure for boils and it hadn't blown up. They were partnered with Hufflepuffs in Potions. At least they weren't too bad

"Oh Merlin. Snape is so evil" Astoria said the moment they were out of earshot.

"I know. At least I got 5 points" Alex said happily. After their lunch they ran to their next lesson: History of Magic

"Epic Bludge" Alex said to Astoria

"I know. I was asleep half the time." Laura said as they caught up to go their final lesson

"Mhm" Mia agreed

"C'mon, we have…" Astoria checked her timetable "Herbology"

"That should interesting" Mia said "I love wizarding plants"

"Cool" Laura and Alex said in unison. Astoria thought Laura and Mia weren't too bad. Although they probably wouldn't be all 'buddy-buddy', but they were decent when it came to their dorms. That morning they figured out a timetable for the showers so that it was all smooth running, that no one would have longer times than others.

Herbology was fun. They were allowed to swear if any venomous Tentacula's creeped up on them. Dinner was a tiring affair. That night was shepherd's pie, one of Astoria's favourites. Falling asleep. Astoria realised she would have to do this all over again.

Part 3: Christmas and reluctance

Astoria's parents had been reluctant to let Alex stay, but upon realising she was a pureblood through her father's side (Alex's Grandparents were both squibs. The talent re surfaced with Alex). Astoria also knew her parents wanted to pretend that they were on the light side after all, instead of the death eaters they were. They were being stiff and formal as usual.

"Madam. I must say, this is a wonderful soup" Alex was smart. She knew about pureblood prejudice, so it was safe to be formal.

"Thank you. The house elves made it" Astoria though it was typical for her mother to make the house elves do everything

"Miss Francisco. Do tell me. How are your studies?" Orion asked

"Sir, my professors tell me that my studies are to a high standard and consistent. They tell me that Astoria and I ought to be commended" Alex said. Astoria was surprised that 'free-spirit' and mischievous Alex was so formal at the moment

"And commended you are" Orion said neutrally, as if only praising Alex and not Astoria. The night passed with tension. The former death eaters were impressed by Alex.

''OH MY GOD. THAT WAS SO FEAKING STRESSFUL" Alex flumped down on the spare bed. It was covered with sapphire sheets. Obviously one of the ones Daphne rejected.

"Just chill. Tomorrow I get to go to Diagon Alley. So I'm booking a room there. It's only a couple more days anyway."

"My parents are letting me go there too. What sort of Christmas do you call this?" Alex said. Astoria had told her about the balls and things, but they were held every 3 years

"An interesting one. It's only what? 24th of December 1993? Lunch time. My parents would love for me to leave early. Stop the whole annoying thing. Except; they aren't so keen." Astoria said with a hint of sarcasm

"But." Alex began mischievously

"But what?'

"If you put us leaving, Daphne and your parents in the same sentence, what do you get?" Alex said

"Ah. "

-Line-

"Daddy…" Daphne said

"Yes Daphne dearest" Astoria snorted behind the staircase where she was hidden

"Alex and Astoria, well… What if you let them out early, that way Christmas is just us and Mummy." Daphne put it in her sweetest voice. Celeste joined and she seemed interested

"Well then. I think the girls ought to be packing. Let their presence evade us no more." Celeste looked at the patch of wall where Astoria and Alex slept.

"Thanks Daph" Astoria said

"Yeah. Thanks" Alex said

"No probs, it means I can invite Michael over."

-Line-

"Okay. That was weird. My parents would never let me be this independent"

"Yeah. Well. My parents aren't exactly the world's most loved"

"Might I add. The life of an eleven year old is in your hands. No pressure" Alex joked around while they began to pack their clothes, which wasn't much. But they also had to pack for Hogwarts, so that meant that they would have to carry extra luggage.

"Okay" Astoria said after nearly an hour's worth of packing "Done" Alex too had finished, sitting on her trunk to close it.

"Tori, Alex. The Floo's gonna take you to the Leaky Cauldron, so Tori. Explain… I'll owl the presents for tomorrow over. You didn't think you'll be gift-less did you?"

"Tori, what's floo?" Alex asked

"You travel though fireplaces. There's powder, you drop it into the fireplace, step into it and say where you want to go. Just don't stuff it up" Astoria explained

"Okay. Cool"

They both walked down with their trunks. It was slightly depressing to see Orion and Celeste waiting at the fireplace, wanting to kick them out. Astoria went first, demonstrating what to do

"The Leaky Cauldron" She said firmly in the emerald flames, letting go of her powder, she and her trunk whizzed off somewhere and now Alex went. Astoria never got to see what happened to Alex, but she made it through okay. They approached Tom, the landlord and asked for a room.

"Excuse me, do you have a room for 2 people until the end of Hogwarts break?" Alex asked, if it was about daring and bravery, Alex was the person to ask

"Yes. Room 14. That's 15 sickles each." Tom reached for the coins each of the girls handed over. Their luggage was carried up to their room, fitted with 2 single beds and an ensuite. It would suffice for the next 3 days.

"That's one sad Christmas. Alone in a hotel, hoping we don't run into someone we hate" Alex said

"Yeah. Sad alright. But, it means we can splurge on presents" Astoria added brightly

Part 4: Midnight Shocks

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT ABOUT?" Alex said in a harsh voice to her, Laura and Mia, as they were moved from Gryffindor tower to the Hall.

"I dunno, but apparently, you know Ron Weasley, well, Sirius Black broke into our tower and tried attacking him with a knife. Apparently he got the passwords off Neville Longbottom's bedside table." Laura 'knew' people, luck just happened to favour her as she happened upon juicy news

"Well, it can't all be Neville's fault. He's a great person, I mean, we all leave things out, and it's not all entirely out fault, for all we know, someone could've stolen the paper off his table, or copied them down?" Mia hypothesised, she saw the good in everyone, except Voldemort and certain people.

"True, anyway, the entire Castle will be searched, though, chances are, Black'll have gotten away." Astoria said.

"Yeah, anyway, we should really get some sleep." Alex said and they all settled in their squishy, purple sleeping bags

Astoria didn't sleep well at all that night. She merely stared at the ceiling, enchanted with a view of the cosmos. She was told off, to go to sleep several times by the head boy, the Grey Lady, Dumbledore and even Snape. Astoria reckoned she was the only one awake by 5:00 in the morning

Part 5: End of a year

It was finally the end of year feast, something Astoria, to an extent, dreaded to see. Gryffindor had secured a win through their triumph of winning the Quidditch Cup, a thing that when mentioned to the captain; Oliver Woods, would still bring tears to his eyes. Sirius Black had gotten away, again, how he penetrated the walls was still a mystery, though he couldn't have used normal magic, because there were dementors. And the fact that the school was enchanted by old magic, no one could apparate/disapparate from the grounds, everyone who had read _Hogwarts: a History_ knew that. Though, that was probably only her and Hermione. The hall was therefore coloured in red and gold, and the other 2 houses (well, the ones they liked: Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff) were all in a brilliant mood too. Professor Lupin resigned as Snape had 'told' the Slytherins that he was a werewolf. Though, to Astoria and her friends, there was no problem with him being one, Lupin was still the best teacher they had ever had and it pained them with the rest of his students (except for Slytherin) to see him leave.

The train ride back home was better than the first, there were no hooded figures, no lashing rain. It was clear and beautiful. Alex, Mia, Laura and she all shared a compartment, they spent their time sharing lollies and organising tickets to the Quidditch World Cup. The four of them would go with Mia's parents as they both worked in the Department of games, or whatever it was.

"Well" Astoria said as she stepped out of the train with her luggage and her faithful owl; Aphrodite, "I guess I'll see you soon"

"Yeah" Alex said with her owl; Artemis, named for Astoria

"See you Tori, Alex, Mia" Laura said, in search of her Hufflepuff sister

"Bye guys" Mia said as she found her parents

Astoria couldn't help but think, that for once, she was finally in the spotlight. She was 1001% certain that her parents would let her go to the Cup, as, what parent would want a rebelling teen in their house?

* * *

Hey, sorry if i go really quickly, usually i'm too slow :)

Oh, and PLEASE review, when i get 100 views, i'll throw an imaginary party. I really want to mention/shout out to people, but i can't unless you review, and it's the best feeling to get mentioned in someone's story, so PLEASE review guys, i feel like such a loner, i don't have BO you know, you can't smell it cross-computers


	4. 1994 Part 1

A/N: Hey to the 160+ peeps who have read this. AHHH LOVE YOU ALL :) Thanks to Bucky5 and Rainbow springs for adding to favourites and reviewing every single chapter. This is Astoria's second year, i'm sorry if i drabble too much in her holidays. I would just love to live in a house like Mia's. Oh, typo form chapter 1 i think, or 2. Cecile is Mia, i changed her name :P

Oh, those bits of french, sorry, i do Japanese at school, so i don;t know much. They involved translators on google, so sorry to any people who actually do advanced french

Disclaimer: Sorry, i really am, I am not JKRowling nor am I any descendants of Harry Potter.

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 4: Year 2

Part 1: Quidditch World Cup

Laura, Astoria, Mia and Alex all sat in their tent, it was probably the most muggle looking there, other than the one at the end of the field. Mia's parents were awfully nice and they took care of their guests. Mia was an 'accident' as she described herself, her older sisters had all left Hogwarts a couple of years before, one of them: Melody; was an auror and the other; Melissa was training to be a healer at Saint Mungo's. Mia had ambitions to join the Holyhead Harpies as their chaser, and now being a 2nd year, she planned to try out for the Gryffindor team, but there were no vacancies, except for keeper.

So far, they had been to all the games; England, Scotland and Wales had all been thrashed and now their hopes lay with Ireland. Laura was from Australia, her letter was delivered there in person by McGonagall, so she was boarding in England. Laura had been supporting Australia until they got out by the quarter-finals, the result left Laura in tears as Australia's Seeker: Redolfi had been taken off with several broken bones and their Seeker: Zafiratos had been left with a broken nose. It was all Germany's fault.

It was finally the night of the Grand Finals: Ireland versus Bulgaria. They were all going for Ireland, as cute as Krum was, Ireland still had the best chances. Alex was definitely beginning to get fond of Quidditch, they had all bought rosettes, merchandise and omniocculars.

The game was getting into full swings, there was a hilarious moment when the veela began to throw a tantrum. Astoria and her friends knew full well not to take any gold, it was fake and would disappear in a couple of hours. Alex was hugging everyone in the stalls when Ireland one, Mia was crying so hard, she was literally bouncing up and down every time they scored 10 points.

Back in the tent, they were all discussing the match when Firelight began to come closer and closer. The light was beginning to blind her and she heard shouts, curses. It only meant one thing. Death Eaters. Mia's parents ushered them out, they were all in their normal clothes, as they were all awake. Astoria took hold of all her friends and they ran. They ran to the woods, knowing her parents, Astoria's mother would've been there. From the start, Astoria was placing magical indicators so they could spend the night there, in case they were to get lost, if activated, they would light up in red and make a 'rope', like a muggle laser. They paused for a bit, and they saw a few girls, they probably went to a different school

"Excusez-moi, parlez-vous français?" The red-head girl asked

"je parle un peu français" Laura replied. Laura, living in Australia, had learnt French as part of secondary school, she was there for nearly a year before she went to Hogwarts, so she knew quite a bit of French.

"Ah, oui, savez-vous où les filles de Beauxbâtons sont?" (do you know where the Beauxbatons Girls are?)

"Désolé, je ne sais pas où ils sont. Peut-être qu'ils sont sur un site différent?" (Sorry, I don't perhaps they are on a different site)

"Merci beaucoup, mon ami, pour nous aider" the girl said, and they ran to another site, firing spells over their shoulders, to make sure they weren't followed.

"That was fun" Laura said and they all kept running, they found a little girl, only 5

"What's your name sweetie?" Mia asked

"Chloe, Chloe Singleton" The little girl was dark-skinned with sleek black hair in pigtails, she was in her green pyjamas.

"Are you lost?" Laura asked. Chloe nodded, she was scooped up by Mia, the tallest and strongest, they kept running, before Astoria, literally, knocked into Draco Malfoy

"Ah, who is it we have here? A mudblood, a Blood Traitor, a Foreigner and oh, a mum"

"Scared to be stabbed with my knife Malfoy?" Alex pulled out her dagger and Draco immediately recoiled

"Now leave us alone. Chloe's lost. Astoria is more noble of blood than you'll ever be and Laura's gone to school longer than you have, so it's fair to say, 4, no, 5 girls against a scrawny brat like you. As if you'll win" With each word, Alex came closer, Dagger in her left hand and wand wielded in her right, her wand was above his heart and her dagger was centimetre away from him. But something was coming and Astoria decided now was the time to annoy him

"Run Malfoy, run faster than you ever will. Coz I will get you, the moment your death-eater parents are in jail." Astoria said, but then, as her instincts were telling her, a large fireball was being fired towards them, Astoria eyed Laura, carrying Chloe, they ran fast, but the impact of the blaze meant that Chloe was flung from Laura's arms. Everyone hit the ground.

"Astoria" Malfoy offered his hand to her as she was on the floor

"No, fuck off" she got up on her own and began to take care of her friends. Malfoy slunk towards the exit of the forest, looking, the smallest bit hurt

The four gathered together, it was starting to rain very hard

"We should make a shelter". Mia's parents in the chaos had given her the bag, fitted with an undetectable extension charm, the bag had everything they would need, but their tent and their owls were with Mia's parents. Laura said.

"Yeah, there's a giant cloth here, we should try that transfiguration from last year, you know, leaves to rope" Alex said, pulling out her wand again, she tried it, surprised that it worked

"Okay, this tree's hollow" Mia said, inspecting the large tree, they made a ceiling with the canvas, securing it with the rope, it made a bit of walls, the way it was draped. Laura took out the large lanterns from the bag, lighting it, she saw that the ground was too rough, so she took out her wand and did her best to smooth it out, Astoria put the picnic blanket on the floor. The lanterns provided enough light, there wasn't much space, but at least they could all fit in. There were several blankets in the bag and they were all wrapped in the, Chloe in the centre so she was warm. They tried their best with essence of Dittany for any burns and cuts.

"Hey, do you guys know how to send up sparks?" Alex asked

"Yep. But I doubt they'll find us in this rain. They'll come looking for us, my parents told me that if this sort of thing ever happened, to hide somewhere and not to come out until everything's safe. Plus, we have to take care of Chloe, she's got a cold and if we move now, it'll get worse." Mia said, her parents would be trying to take care of the international scandal unfolding, so the most they could do was try to keep everyone calm.

"Worth a try though" Laura found an umbrella in the bag, she climbed up a branch so that her shoes wouldn't get muddy, she sent up sparks every few minutes, climbing back down after sending exactly 7 flares, that way the wizards knew that there were kids, safe and waiting for help

"The rain's really bad" Laura said, part wet- part dry as she entered the 'burrow' for the umpteenth time. They had been there for hours and the sun wasn't coming out yet.

"It's 3 o'clock, the sunrise is in a few hours." Astoria said, she was the only one awake, they all woke up at different times, at least they would all get some sleep. Laura was faithful to the end, sending up the sparks and hardly falling asleep. "You should rest, you've been doing this for hours" Astoria said to Laura, who looked grateful for the reprieve. Astoria climbed up the tree, waited another 4 minutes, then sent up 7 sparks, sending up her highest hopes to god that they would be found.

It was about Astoria's 10th time down when Mia's Parents: Mr and Mrs Smith came

"Sorry we took so long. The Auror Department is in an uproar and Magical Cooperation is in a crisis" Mrs Smith said

"It is quite clever girls" Mr Smith said to them as they all woke up. Their shoes were in the bag as they weren't muddy, the lanterns were strategically placed to provide the most even light possible. "Who's that?" he nodded to the girl

"Her name's Chloe Singleton, she's five and lost. She's got a fever, it was a cold earlier but it's gotten worse." Mia said, she was looking for her shoes and put them on. "It's the only reason we stayed here, she's too weak to walk any further," Mia elaborated

"Come here darling" Mrs Pond said to Chloe, she felt her temperature and looked worried "She'll survive, but she's very hot, it's one of those fevers that get worse to get better, she'll heal soon"

"The rain's lifting, in a few minutes we'll be able to take brooms back to the portkey and then get back to the car." Mr Smith said, he helped back up 'burrow' and as soon as the rain stopped, he allocated brooms for them

"Astoria, this is yours" he pointed to one of the cleansweeps "Alex, you've never been on a broom, but just stay confident, I'm sure you'll do it. This cleansweep is yours" he gave her the newest one, so that her first ride was smooth "Mia and Laura, these ones are yours" he handed over the other two cleansweeps. Mrs Smith took Chloe on her Nimbus while Mr Smith headed to the front where they kicked off in the direction of the portkeys. Upon arrival Mia's parents quickly signed off a sheet for Ministry members and they left, clutching a broken teddy bear.

The portkey took them to an abandoned car park. Mr Smith undid the invisibility charm on it before getting into the 4-wheel drive.

"Oh, thank god" Laura said as she found her owl; Hermia in her cage along with Mia's owl: Demetria in her cage, Alex's owl Artemis in her silver cage and Astoria's owl; Aphrodite in her golden cage.

"They're all safe, now get into the car, it's not very safe right now." Mrs Smith said. The car drove off towards Mia's house in Leadworth*. Leadworth was a quiet country town, it had its own hospital and both primary and secondary schools. The smith house was technically part of Upper Leadworth, but they classified it as Leadworth as it was closer to its border.

"Mum, what the hell was that about?" Mia asked

"It's the Ministry's worst nightmare. Death Eaters were there, they felt like reminding everyone of what it used to be like. In the times of blood and fire. Then Crouch was caught with his house elf. Apparently the poor elf 'made' the sign." Mrs Smith said

"What sign?" Mia asked

"Didn't you see? It was the Dark Mark" Mrs Smith said grimly

"Shit. My mum was sort of a death eater. She was more of an ally than a death eater itself. I volunteer my 'mother' for questioning" Astoria said, the car burst into laughter "Anyway, an elf couldn't have conjured it, only Death Eaters and their allies know how to do that, from what I know, it's an incantation, Voldemort" people in the car shuddered "Yeah, used it to summon them." Astoria finished

"True, that just leaves the huge mystery. Harry Potter lost his wand and it was found in the possession of that house elf. They used Priori Incantatem. The reverse spell effect, and it proved that it was that wand" Mrs Smith stated

"That's really weird" Laura said "Anyway, what about Chloe?" Chloe was with them

"Her parents work in Magical Cooperation. I signed that form for 24 hours of legal Guardian-ship. Anyway, Monica and Wendell are nice people, we know them" Laura exhaled, she was obviously worried about the small girl. Mr Smith said

"Okay, here we are" The 4-wheel drive rolled up the drive way, they went past the hedges and the view opened up to a beautiful Georgian-style home, it was situated against emerald-green grass that rolled along the hillside. The outside was open, there was a large, circular arbour in the middle, the perfect place for any tea parties, the house was surrounded with rose gardens and fountains with cherubs. The house was rectangular, with each 4 corners having a tower, with the steeple roof, there were probably 3 kitchens, a main one, a dirty kitchen outside and knowing these sort of homes and the French style, one somewhere for hot chocolate.

"This" Astoria said

"Is" Laura said

"A" Alex said

"House?" they said incredulously

"More like a mini version of bloody Versailles" Alex said, the house practically was that

"Glad you like it then" Mia's mum said. They walked through the front doors, it was of heavy mahogany with rose-patterned panels. The floor was made of wood, but the grand staircase was double-winged and made of marble, it's intricately wrought bannisters were black iron, the top of it was golden. Astoria literally stopped in her steps, mouth open, judging by the artwork, portraits, their family was old and aristocratic, at least, muggle-wise.

"You have to invite Malfoy here, he'd faint. It's better than my winter place, now that's saying something" Astoria said

Part 2: Aristocratic Houses

"True, I should do that, I'd love to see Malfoy's face." Mia said. "Do you guys want to explore?, I've literally only been here a couple of months. We got inherited it from our grandmother, but she's moved to America."

"You've done pretty well for a month, you've gotten out quite a bit of furniture." Laura said

"Oh yeah. She left all the furniture, it's really beautiful, there's a nursery that's furnished in Victorian stuff, there's old gas lights and everything. But the gas lights are electrical now, and there are heaps of power points, we have a television and a movie room where we watch VHC's. We're raiding the attic tomorrow, and the best thing is that in my Grandmother's will, I get the house because my parents have a house and they don't want to move out of it. Both my sisters are either engaged or married and they both have houses." Mia said, very happy about the fact that the house was hers

"Okay, that is awesome" They were making their way up the stairs and already, it was giving a vibe of grandeur. Said Astoria

"Oh my god, look at this" Laura pointed to a large portrait on the wall, it had 5 people in it, the small plaque on the bottom said:

_The Viscount Smith and his Wife; Viscountess Georgina. Children Mary, Alice and George at ages 5,4,2_

"Woah. That's like in George II's rule. And that looks like a really expensive portrait." Alex said. Alex was smart in a different way, most people were smart by remembering what teachers said, but Alex had further knowledge and had a way of knowing things, she was the queen of general knowledge

"Yeah, from what Gran told me, we still have the title, except it's with her. It's her husband's. Her heir is my dad as he's an only kid. Then the title goes to me, now you get to pick who the title goes to, my sisters both forfeited because when dad got it, when we got the house, Melissa was married and Melody was engaged, so I got left with it" Mia explained

"Honestly, I wouldn't be complaining. Daph's got our title and stuff, but I still get to inherit the winter castle." Astoria said.

They continued through the house, going into each room. There were several rooms they went through. The house had 3 stories and so far they were only on their 2nd floor. One of the rooms that truly caught her breath was the library

"Oh Merlin" Astoria said faintly as she entered the room. According to Mia, her family were purebloods, but they were considered a bit of a blood traitor lot as they were part of the Muggle Court. The library's ceiling reached from the 2nd floor to the third, and the house already had huge ceilings. There was not a shelf that wasn't crammed with books, the shelves that were placed on the circular walls meant that the entire library took up one of the towers, there was even an archives at the back. Astoria found some gloves and looked at some of the documents. Old OWL grades from the 1800's, documents from when the house was new, documents of the old house, which apparently was burnt down by terrorists, old manuscripts. Alex, Laura and Mia too were looking documents.

"Oh MERLIN!" Alex said, she was carefully reading, more observing pages of a Persian book, 12th century by the look of it.

"Look at this" Laura said, she delicately looked at a centuries old textbook, in old English. It was probably 16th century as the ink gave it the look that it was from a printing press.

"We should go, we might ruin stuff and I want to see other rooms" Mia said and they discarded the used cotton gloves in the bin

They continued their way through that floor, the walls were all a cream colour that was divided with a chair rail. The chair rail was also the matching cream colour, but it was decorated with patterns of flowers and fruit. The bottom of the wall was a white wallpaper, patterned with sapphire damask. The curtains were apple green chiffon that seemingly floated in the breeze every second of the day.

"This is the door to the servant's corridors and quarters. The corridors are really cool, they have signs so you know where to go" Mia said as she opened one of the doors "I haven't been through them all, but they are really discreet and they don't stuff up the alignment of the rooms. This is" she ran forwards, Laura, Alex and Astoria rushing to keep up with her "The way up, it's a smaller stair case. But it's cool." The staircase led up to a similarly furnished floor.

"My room's this tower, over here" Mia said and they went in the direction of the east wing, from there they turned left. Mia occupied the top half of the tower and a bit of the main part.

"Wow, it's really pretty" Mia's room was furnished in cream and floral themes. She had an ensuite near the back and a walk-in wardrobe. Her double bed was cream-brass with four posts, lilac chiffon sheets hanging off them. Her bedside table and vanity table were both French and cream coloured.

"Oh my god, is that one of those rare…" Alex started, looking at the antique gas stove

"Yeah, it was an idea borrowed from Versailles. I really want to make my own hot chocolate with this, once I've figured it out. But for now, I just use the fireplace in winter." Mia said as she sat down on the chaise longue, it too was cream damask on the cream wood. The lounge was near her bed, there was a pillow-seat under the window, the pillow seat was floral and the pillows various pastels, the window had a view of the back gardens. There was an antique coffee table, in cream that had small mini couches surrounding it

"I would be so scared to spill anything in here" Astoria said

"I know right. But I really want to raid the attic up stairs. It would look so cool for a historical shoot in this house" Mia replied

"Well, my friends in Australia want to know how I'm going. They think that I'm at a really exclusive muggle school and I could say that this was for an assignment. Plus, my parents would love to see me in this house. It's so cool" Laura said

"It's settled then. We raid the attic, take some photos and let Malfoy gape in awe. HAHA, no pressure." Astoria said

"Oh, you guys are sleeping in the old servant's room on this floor. I had it furnished and I've added some beds and stuff for you guys"

"Okay thanks" Alex said "Chloe, come here" the little girl had found her way up into the house

"Are you feeling better?" Laura asked

"Yes." She said in her adorable baby voice

"Okay, why don't we go to the nursery and take a look, it's really pretty" Mia said and she lifted the girl and they walked back into the centre of the floor. Astoria couldn't help but feel like she would get lost and judging by Mia's looks, Astoria though Mia would be too.

"Oh, isn't that DARLING!" Astoria said in a posh accent, she felt like it in this house. The nursery was painted in pastels. The wall was as usual, dominantly cream, but the bottom half below the chair rail was pink, blue, green, yellow vertically striped wallpaper, with the bit below the rail a pattern of horses on a light blue background. There were antique rocking horses and dolls, all carefully stacked up on shelves. There was a cot in cream, complete with the bedding and a small bed for a child. The bed was placed in the corner so that it took up as little space as possible, it had a sapphire canopy and matching sheets. Astoria had a nursery like this when she was little, but not as pretty as this.

"Alex, Tori, Mia, Laurie. Look at this! It's pretty" Chloe said, she pointed to the dollhouse. The dollhouse was a miniature of the house, but it was up to Astoria's heart. It was that large. She opened it and found it fully furnished and in perfect condition. "We shouldn't play with it. It's too pretty." Chloe said. Startling the older girls.

"Hey, Laura, we should dress Chloe up in these!" Alex said "It's all these period clothes, Georgian, regency, Victorian, Edwardian and a few '40s clothes. But I don't think they fit, you need to be corseted into them" Astoria looked at some of the silken dresses, they were so beautiful, and should've been just left there.

"Hey, look at the sewing kit." Laura said, there were unfinished dresses, undoubtedly for some of the dolls.

"Girls. Breakfast, we're outside" Mrs Smith called.

"Okay, I know a shortcut through the servant's quarters, they have a spiral case directly to the garden, it's in your room" Mia said. They exited the nursery and turned left into a couple of corridors, they entered one of the covertly hidden panels. There, in truth was the staircase, there were 2 bunk beds in the room, with an ensuite, it had the same wallpaper as the rooms outside, there was a large window where they could see the back garden. Their stuff was there too.

"It's next door to mine, so there's a passage here to there" they all went down the stair case and found themselves in a closet. Opening it, they were in the kitchen, and the backdoor led to the Gardens.

"Ah, you're not lost. Good. We've got eggs, bacon, sausage, porridge, toast and hot chocolate." Mr Smith said

"Are you sure this isn't property of the crown?" Astoria said jokingly

"Nope" Mrs Smith said popping her 'p' "It's ours, it's a wizard's home remember, it's got a bit of an undetectable extension charm, so it looks bigger on the inside"

"Like the TARDIS" Astoria muttered under her breath

Part 3: Photo shoots

Astoria and her friends had woken up early that Morning to raid the attic. Chloe's parents were happy to have Chloe come over and be babysat by such lovely girls. Alex and Astoria snorted mentally.

"Okay, this box is marked. WOAH NELLY!" Alex said reading the date "Elizabeth, 17.." I can't make out the rest, but that's old mate. OLD and AWESOME"

"You know, we might as well take all these boxes down into Mum and Dad's room" Mia said, the attic was above her parents room and Astoria though for good reason. If any of the four went into the attic, they probably would've stolen everything

"No, we should look though them and then see what we'll shoot in. But a few dresses from each period should do. We'll look at this one first." Alex and Mia brought the box down the steps and had Mrs Smith open the box

"Wow, girls, look at this" She found an old Hogwarts robe, belonging to Gryffindor

"Mum. MUGGLES remember. Oh, look at this one it's lovely" Mia pulled out a rose and silver striped dress, the triangle insert was decorated with roses. The sleeves were ¾ and had several frills. "I'll wear this and in the box, there's shoes, I'll wear these rose ones."

"Okay kids, new plan" Astoria said "We'll pick out dresses from each period for each person, that way we're all in the fun.

"Okay. Mum, can you seal and repack all the boxes that way we don't ruin any of these?"

"Yes, but I had an idea. You'll just have to wait until later." Mrs Smith replied happily. She let the girls take all the clothes they needed from each period and then they carefully stacked each box in the corner.

-Snap… Snap-

Astoria was having fun in these outfits. She volunteered to go first, as she was the smallest and they could practise how to do all the period styles on her. Her dresses varied from a 1700's ball gown to a Regency dress, resembling one from Jane Austen's novels, her day dress from the Victorian era took at least an hour to get into and an hour out of. Her next dresses where a child's dress from the early 1900's and an evening gown from 1910. All in all, she felt as if she had travelled through time in those dresses.

Astoria had helped everyone into their dresses, she had the most experience with corset lacing as most pure-bloods never wore zippers or buttons. Although, she had to threaten Alex into some dresses as skirts, as she had said for the millionth time 'were against her religion'. Though, Astoria thought that deep inside, Alex liked some of the dresses. She had to admit, they were all quite brilliant actresses, especially Alex and Mia, they could portray each role wonderfully, each photo had a different feel to it. Astoria secretly though, deep inside that she was perhaps brilliant at acting too, her photos would take some time to develop however, so she wouldn't be able to see how they turned out. It took a whole lot of effort to move from rooms to room, but with the help of the servant's corridors, it was easier than they thought.

* * *

Okay the asterisk and the awkward Australian Quidditch team bit. For all you peeps who were watching the soccer world cup in 2006, with Germany and that game where we made it to the quarters or something and we lost to Germany on the points, coz half the time it was 1-0 or nil all :( Shout out to Simon and Angelo... if you guys have fanfic... just felt like putting you guys in HAHA. Oh and the Leadworth bit... I wanted to reference Amy and Rory, fact reamains i don't think they're old enough yet, either way, i'm updating this coz i kept typing Pond and not Smith... yeah, obsessed in several fandoms.

So sorry that the ending is weird, like i said, i'm on holidays, so i'm writing and updating to make sure that i make up for the time lost next term. But this is the last holiday chapter, sorry it's quite long, i just talk too much. Haha, i got my grades back, i was freaking out so bad.

Oh and Verification. To all you aussies who have been to high school. You do do french right? (We get a choice between French and Jap. I did Jap for the fact we go to a Tepanyaki) And i'm pretty sure that means school is about a few months ahead or behind than in England.

MENTAL PARTY WITH LOLLIES BECAUSE I'M OVER 100 AND NEAR 200. PLEASE FREAKING REVIEW


	5. 1994 Part 2

A/N: Multitasking by watching GOF and uploading this. I squeal every time David Tennant comes up.

Disclaimer: No, don't own Harry Potter. *starts sobbing hysterically*

* * *

1994 Part 2:

Revelations

"Oh my God." Said Astoria. She, Laura, Alex and Mia were all on the floor, they had finished unpacking and they were enjoying a quick snack, consisting of chocolate bars, next to the gas heater.

"I know, I can't believe they're bringing the Triwizard tournament back" Said Mia

"Apparently people have died in it. And I'm really scared that it'll happen again" Astoria said, she had some knowledge of the barbaric games

"They honestly sound really inhumane" Alex said disgusted

"They sound like something out of a novel* honestly, it's grotesque." Laura said

"Well. I guess we'll just have to wait for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to arrive. Word of warning, Beauxbatons are nice, but they can be a bit stuck up and Durmstrang is just a fucked up school. They literally worship the dark arts." Astoria said darkly

"Though admittedly, Beauxbatons kids sound interesting." Laura said

"We should really get to sleep." Mia said

"Yeah" the others agreed

* * *

Part 1: The Arrival of the Guests

The day Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived was a day full of tension among the teachers. They were all made to wear their best uniforms and McGonagall had threatened to put Alex on detention for the rest of the year if she didn't wear a skirt. Alex did so grudgingly, what freaked out Astoria, Mia and Laura was the fact Alex didn't see a couple of the guys in their year staring at her, admittedly, Alex looked like quite a girl and prettier than usual in a skirt. Astoria was hoping that any guy would ask her and her friend out to the Yule ball, a tradition that comes with the tournament, they had all bought dresses for the occasion, some of which were the dresses they found in the attic, though altered to give a more modern appeal. Their first sight of the school was a large, powder blue carriage, the same shade as Laura's dress, then the next sign was the large ship, rising out of the lake.

"Oh, I can hear them… They ARE stuck up little brats" Laura said as she heard the snatches of French being said by Madame Maxine and the children. Durmstrang was a seriously depressing Lot as they saw them in their fur coats and their scowling faces. '_Dark lot alright, they look like my mother.'_ Astoria thought.

Astoria had never seen the hall this splendid, though, in truth, she had only been there for a year and a bit. The Beauxbatons kids were sitting with the Ravenclaws, perhaps it was something to do with the colour blue? And the Durmstrang boys with the Slytherins. Astoria swore she saw Malfoy attempt to have a conversation with Krum, but he left that table and moved to Astoria where she nervously gulped as he approached.

"Are you still having the Goulash. Ve vould like to have it over there" Krum said, Astoria was momentarily speechless, but she pulled her most dazzling smile and handed over the golden dish

"Yeah, sure take it. Oh, please, don't give that blonde boy any, and don't tell him I said that" She added nicely, international snobbery would definitely annoy Malfoy

"Yes, vy not, he seems stuck up, iv you know vot I mean" He said winking and he moved back to the Slytherin table. For a seeker, she noted that he was hunched when walking on the ground, slightly odd.

"Now, there …" Astoria wasn't bothered to listen to all of Dumbledore's. But she understood what was going on. _'Over 17, name, in goblet, picks you, chance you die. Simple enough'_

During his speech the doors creaked open and a mad looking man came in, with a grotesque face, magical electric blue eye whizzing in a socket, he had a fake leg. A glance from Mia confirmed who he was. Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody, paranoid auror. Though talented from what she heard.

"That eye scares the shit out of me" Alex whispered to her

"I know right." Astoria replied back.

The feast fast even more tensely. Her mother was an ally of the Death Eaters and she knew Karkaroff was a traitor by naming so many of them. And the chemistry between Maxine and Hagrid was starting to creep her out heaps, albeit more.

By the end of it, the students were chatty. Now as second years, they had to make their way back, but she and the others were cornered by Malfoy.

"How dare you make Krum snob me!" Malfoy shouted at her in the corridor, so many people were staring, even a teacher or few.

"Because he said you were stuck up. You're lucky I didn't poison the Goulash. Ferret, I thought you were on an all-carb diet. Honestly, stop being so indecisive." Astoria retorted back and she turned away, going to the other short-cut to the dormitory.

"Wait. No, Jacques!" Astoria spotted her cousin

"Ma cousine! You've grown so much. Last time I saw you, you were so petite!" He said hugging her. Jacques resembled her a bit, with the slim build, hair colour and way of thinking.

"Jacques, these are my friends; Alexandra, Laura and Mia" Astoria introduced her friends

"Ha-ha, enchantee" He said, giving a bit of a bow.

"Well, we must go back to ze carriage, Madame is quite ordely. Au revior, you must give us a tour of ze castle on Saturday!" He said to her while running back to the Beauxbatons kids.

"He's hot. No offence Tori" Laura said

"It's cool. The guy's not the girlfriend type, he puts work over play" Astoria said as they made their way to the common room

"Shame." Laura said slightly put out

"I wonder if he has any friends… Could help for whatever we need the dress robes for?" Mia suggested

"I dunno. Oh, good, someone's opened it." Astoria and Laura sprinted to the end of the corridor where the Portrait hole was, they held it open for Alex and Mia to get through.

"I honestly have hated this password thing since that bonkers knight that was here last year." Laura said

"Touché, I hated him." Alex agreed

"And I hate the fact we have to go up an entire flight more now." Astoria said as they reached their dorm. They moved the beds slightly closer because previously they had been way too distant

"I know, at least we'll know who goes into the cup tomorrow" Mia thought.

"True, honestly, I have a really bad feeling about this" Astoria said

* * *

Part 2: The Unexpected

"And the Hogwarts Champion is… " Dumbledore said dramatically "CEDRIC DIGGORY!"

The Hufflepuffs erupted into cheers, louder than ever before. Astoria thought it was fair for Hufflepuff to have their share of Glory, they were all wonderful people, well, except for Zacharias Smith, that epic git.

But then another piece of Parchment came out of the Goblet.

"Harry Potter." He said, though it suggested a bit of curiosity and disbelief. Astoria was sitting opposite to Harry, Ron and Hermione, and Astoria could tell that Harry hadn't put his name in there. Harry was a great person, he had told her very nicely where to go to for DADA the year previously

"Shit." Astoria whispered to Alex

"I know, he wouldn't have put it in there" Alex said. Mia and Laura looked quite shocked too, they obviously thought he didn't put it in the Goblet. He was there in the common room all those nights and sometimes, Astoria would be up until midnight doing essays and he wouldn't be down there.

They all left and the Champions were left behind

Astoria was in furious thought with the others. Harry couldn't have put his name in the cup.

"Astoria can I ask you something? " Hermione said

"Yeah." Astoria replied

"Do you think Harry put his name in the cup?" Hermione asked

"No. Dumbledore would've put a charm around it, and it would've been guarded 24/7. Even if he had an invisibility cloak" Hermione's hand twitched "The age line would've detected it" she finished

"Oh thank God. A sane person. Everyone else thinks he did it. Are we the only ones?" Hermione said relieved

"My friends in my dorm don't think so either, they all think he's innocent too. Harry doesn't go seeking for trouble" Astoria said

"Trouble seeks him" Hermione mused and she left as Harry entered the room.

"Tori?" Mia asked, coming down in her nightgown and robe "We should sleep. It's going to be chaos" Astoria nodded and followed her up the stairs to the dorm.

-Several Nights Later-

Astoria was near the fire-place. Alone now, doing her DADA essay. No-one could see her but she could hear heavy breathing from the corner, she turned around and found it deserted except for one person.

"Harry? Are you alright?" Astoria asked. She could tell he was tense, it was less than a few hours until the first task, she approached him

"Yeah. Why? Asking for an autograph?" he was obviously pissed with everyone. Pissed and nervous

"I'm just saying. My friends and I, we know you didn't put your name in the Goblet. You wouldn't have, knowing you. I know you get into trouble, but you don't seek attention. I know how it feels, being in the shadows, but I hate it there sometimes. I'm always there, because I'm not my sister." Astoria said genuinely. She sat down on a pouf next to him.

"You know, I was like that too once, when I was living with the muggles. It was always my cousin. And to think they were my blood relatives, my aunt and uncle." He said sadly "But, Hogwarts is my home and that's the way I like it."

"Yeah. Me too. Well, anyway, good luck with the task. You have to come out of it alive" she said in a mock-stern voice

"You know. For a 2nd year, you're more mature than the rest. You'd think at one point you're a 7 year old than the next an old warrior. And it's a good thing. Believe me. We'll all need it one day, that bravery you have." He said. Astoria walked back up, on that _Illuminating_ note. To be praised by Harry was huge for her. And she noted, the Gryffindors, even if you didn't know who everyone was, you called them by their first name every time. Never by the surname.

* * *

Part 3: The First Task

Harry was the last to go. They had seen Krum with the Chinese Fireball, Fleur with the Common Welsh Green and Cedric with the Swedish Short Snout. Their main objective was to get the golden egg from the dragon. That meant

"Shit, he's going to die" Astoria said

"Why?" Laura asked, Alex and Mia mirroring the same

"The Hungarian Horntail. Probably the most lethal dragon there is. Especially if they're female. Hell of a lot more aggressive. "

"Ah." Alex said. Harry stepped out into the open, he merely raised his wand and shouted

"ACCIO FIREBOLT!"

"Ah, clever Harry. Changed my mind, you'll live" Astoria said

"What's accio?" Alex asked

"Summoning charm. He's summoning his broom. Hell, I so want to see Krum's face when Harry gets the fastest time.

Astoria watched on in anticipation. Harry was using all his skill as the seeker, she could tell by his mentality that he was going to get there soon and after a couple of minutes, he swooped down and was victorious. He had the egg. And he was alive.

"Yes! You so have to get full marks. Wait no what! You bastard. That's slack." Astoria said in outrage as Karkaroff gave his score

"You dare disrespect our Headmaster?" a boy from Durmstrang asked, the girl next to him looking at her too

"Karkaroff vos vair and gave ze vest that Potter voy desserved" she said in a snobby way

"Vot vould you know. It's not like your parent vere in the dark arts" he stared at her

"You would be surprised." Astoria moved up to him, and whispered in his ear "My mother was a death eater. I've been disowned." She said in her most sultry voice to piss him off. He stared at her with blank shock and he and his girl-friend scuttled away

"Like is said." She said to Mia, Laura and Alex "It's a fucked up school." And they left the stadium as everyone else flooded out.

* * *

A/N: I will upload the next chapter when i finish it. Most likely tomorrow.

Haha... Astoria is quite depressing at times isn't she


	6. 1994 Part 3

A/N: Sorry i'm late, my parents though that i spent too much time on my comp.

Dedication: Shout out yet again to Rainbowspring and bucky5, thanks guys for your continued support and dedication. To Glitchmob9 and 'MioneEmma14, my mon-ami's who critique it for me

Disclaimer: Do i LOOK like JKRowling to you?... what...i do... JKS!

* * *

1994 Part 3

Part 1: WE HAVE TO WHAT?

"Like I said. McGonagall said we have to go. If your underage, you have to be invited by an older student" Hermione said as she helped Astoria with a particularly hard History of Magic essay. Although, essentially, they were finished.

"So that explains the dress robe thing." Astoria said

"Well, do you think you're going?" Hermione asked

"I might. I mean, I have a cousin who goes to Beauxbatons. He's got a few friends, so fingers crossed." Astoria said hopefully

"Oh, hello Hermione, Astoria" Ginny said brightly

"Hey" Astoria said. Ginny sat down with them in the now deserted common room

"Know who you're going with?" Astoria asked her

"I don't know… But I wouldn't mind going." Ginny said

"What about Harry? I mean, you're a friend of his and I'm shipping Hermione with someone else" Astoria said. Ginny started giggling and Hermione blushed

"You aren't telling me you want her and Ron!" Ginny said

"Yup. Sexual tension. Bit obvious 'Mione" Astoria said. It wasn't one of their first late-night conversations, whenever Hermione was helping Astoria, Ginny would often help, and Ginny was smart.

"Definitely not telling Ron this right" Ginny said

"I wish" Astoria said simply. "I think Binns might set us another one soon, so can you guys help me out?" Astoria added

"Yeah." Ginny said "Though, it might turn out to be an all-night gossip"

"True" and they all left for their dorms.

-A few weeks later-

"Hey. Greengrass." Malfoy was lounging against a pillar with his cronies. He told them to stay there and he followed her

"What do you want ferret. You know, that was the single most goddamn hilarious moment in my life. Malfoy: The Ferret." Astoria said

"Just wanted to ask. Going with anyone to the ball."

"You can talk. Half the girls are swooning over you" Astoria snorted

"Well. I know for a fact that 10 different guys have asked you out." Malfoy sneered "Well then" he added to her silence "Will you go with me?" Astoria was fuming. As if she'd go with him

"STALKER! WHAT THE FUCK… HELL NO" Astoria shouted at him, gaining the attention of the entire grounds near them. She then muttered under her breath "Tarangatella" and he began to dance without control

"Oh, practise for you when you dance with Parkinson." She said before flouncing off back to the tree, next to the lake where Mia, Laura and Alex were and to her surprise, Jacques and 3 of his friends.

"Ah. Ma cousine, I need to talk to you. My friends and I"

"Yes… what is it that Beauxbaton's hottest- for-7-years-in-a-row would want?"

"Pardon. But we do need dates…" A boy interjected

"Ah. You should've said so earlier." Astoria said to them "Wait, why 2nd years"

"Because, how eez it you Britons put eet. You don't snog all night and are interested in ze dancing." Another boy interjected. There was an eruption of giggles from everyone

"Okay." The girls said in unison.

"Ladeez. Zis is Henri." Henri was reasonably tall, he had warm, chocolate brown eyes with immaculately tousled hair, he even had sideburns, which for some odd reason appealed to Astoria, perhaps because he looked like David Tennant*. He had a slim build and gave an aura of charmingness and slight mischief. "Zis is Antoine" Antoine was tall, he was taller than Mia, the tallest there, he had curly brown hair and startling blue eyes. "And zis is Michel." Michel seemed the most mischievous and perhaps the most handsome of the lot, he was sandy-haired with hazel eyes, he seemed to look at everyone in a happy light and his smile, well, Astoria could tell, was irresistible to Alex.

"Okay, Cuz, I'll send you an owl of who is to go with who." And they all left waving at eachother.

-That night-

"How eez it you Britons put it. You don't snog all night and are interested in ze dancing" Astoria quoted Michel, accent and everything.

"hahaha, at least you guys are going" Ginny said as they were all laughing

"At least it wasn't as bad as Ron." Hermione said "He accidentally asked out Fleur Dealcour."

"Oh Godric, he did?" Astoria was laughing so hard.

"Well who are you going with?" Astoria asked them

"Neville. I was kinda desperate, but he is really nice" Ginny said, even if there was a twinge of regret, Neville was still a nice person, Astoria had stood up for him when Malfoy was there

"Okay." she said in a low voice and they all leaned in. "Don't tell anyone. Viktor Krum" she said

"No way. Oh my god, you will have so many people hate you." Astoria said shocked, but happy for her

"I know, but I don't care. Who are you going with?" Hermione asked Astoria

"Well, my cousin and his friends wanted dates so I'm going with a guy from Beauxbatons. His name is Henri. And he looks like… DAVID TENNANT!"

"OH MY GOD!" Hermione squealed with her

"Wait, Who?" Ginny asked, oblivious of the muggle

"Oh, he's a guy in this Play called: Merlin, last year, I snuck out and saw it. He played King Arthur*" Astoria said in delight

"Thing is he's really good looking." Hermione said

"I need to document this: Hermione fangirling" Ginny said in a dreamy voice

"Not Fangirling Ginevra, enthusiasm" Hermione retorted.

* * *

Part 2: Preparations

"I honestly will never understand boys." Hermione said

"I know. The last mystery known to witches." Astoria said

"I don't get how they think that we take too long." Ginny said

"Well then, what are we going to do first?" Astoria asked

"Well" Hermione pulled a few bottles out of her bag "You know sleek-ezy, well…" Hermione trailed off

"Aha, we'll help you with that. It won't take too long." Astoria said

They spent at least 2 hours with Hermione's hair in a tub, they washed through at least 3 bottles of the product to her hair sleek and smooth, which suited Hermione anyway.

"Haha, done." Ginny said as they helped her towel dry her hair. They had all taken a shower when Hermione was soaking her hair in the tub.

"Okay, we can finally get dressed. " Astoria ran down a couple of flights to get her dress out of the trunk

"Woah…" Astoria stared at the dresses Hermione and Ginny had.

"I know right" Ginny said as they both looked and Hermione's lilac dress

"Well, hurry up. Our dates aren't going to go alone now, are they?" Hermione said.

-Literally an hour later-

Ginny, Astoria and Hermione exited the common room when it was empty, they didn't want to be stared at. Astoria came down the stairs in a mock-dramatic way and both the girls laughed.

Astoria came down in a dark purple dress, it was single sleeved and the bodice fitted her body, then the dark purple chiffon came out from her waist, it reached to the floor and pooled out. Her shoes were black, velvet wedges that made her seem taller. Her hair was done in an elaborate way, the curls were pinned back like in a ponytail, bit curled and held only with pins. Each of the pins were headed with either a pearl or a diamond or an amethyst. Hey jewellery was simple as she wore diamonds and her sapphire choker.

Ginny followed her down the flight of steps. Ginny was wearing a peach and green dress. The main dress was pink then the collar and chiffon draperies on the skirt were a light apple green. Ginny's hair was braided simply, leaving the rest of her hair out. Ginny's shoes were simple silver flats.

Hermione was perhaps the most stunning. Astoria wanted to see the look on Malfoy's face when he saw all the Gryffindor girls. Hermione wore plum* robes, floaty and quite girly. Hermione's hair was done in an elegant bun with a curl at the bottom. Half the girls at Hogwarts was going to kill her when they saw her with Krum.

They all met their dates outside the hall. Hermione parted with the to find Krum. Ginny found Neville and Astoria spotted her friends with Jacques. Mia with Antoine, Alex with Michel and Laura with Jacques. Henri was there waiting for her in a slim-fitted tuxedo and black converse, she had to supress a snort.

Mia was in a dove-grey silk dress, it was 50's style that started out as a tight singlet then puffed out to reach the floor. The entire dress was asymmetrically decorated with black lace-y patterns. Alex was dressed in sapphire blue. The dress was corseted at the back and reached the floor, it naturally pooled out. It was one-sleeved and went beautifully with Alex's diamond necklace. Astoria was the only one who knew that her dagger was in her purse, just in-case. Laura looked pretty in her powder-blue dress. It was shorter than the rest as it reached below her knees, it was sleeved, but past the shoulders in chiffon. Her silk, cream shoes could be seen and her light-coloured tights.

"Oi, look at Malfoy." Astoria said to them. Malfoy walked past in a high-collared cloak, velvet to Astoria's distaste. His arm was being violently clung onto by Pansy, in her frilly pink dress. The pink as violent as the manner she was groping Malfoy. To her, Malfoy looked like a vicar

"Oi, Malfoy, tell me, is it the latest death-eater fashion to look like a vicar? And to have a mistress who is has got as equally as bad taste." She said in a raised, taunting voice from the other side of the entrance hall. So many people started cracking up and clapping. Astoria took a bow.

* * *

Part 3: The Ball

Astoria, Mia, Laura, Alex and their dates took their seats at one of the tables. There was a menu and they had absolutely no idea what to do with it. Dumbledore demonstrated by picking a dish, they everyone followed suit. Astoria read the list of foods, deciding that an entrée would be smart.

"Seared Scallops" Astoria said and the plate of perfectly cooked, small scallops appeared before her. It was served in the shell, though obviously, it was taken out of it while cooking. There was a delicious lemon-garlic sauce, and she could detect a hint of thyme.

"Well, well cousine. Zey could mistake you as a girl from Beauxbatons. Seared Scallops." Jacques chimed.

Astoria looked around the room quickly, she grinned at Ginny who was nodding at Pansy. The latter was trying to get Malfoy to feed her from his fork.

She then scanned the menu for her main course

"Mademoiselle Astoria, what do you zink would be a good main?" Henri asked

"Well, I'm not quite sure…" Astoria said as she read the menu. Henri had a soup previously and now she was in partial mind to pick the Goulash. _'Too many memories'_ her mind interjected. "What about an Indian curry? I'll have Lamb Rogan Josh and Butter Chicken with Naan" Astoria said to the table. A plate of aromatic spiced curry appeared in front of her. She immediately placed her knife a down and ripped a piece of Naan off. She added a bit of the chicken and sauce on the bread, using one hand, with help of the fork, skilfully and placing it in her mouth. A few people we aroused by the scent and looked at her confidently eating. Malfoy looked at her in awe and then looked disdainfully at his plate, which Astoria guessed was a dish Pansy picked. Ginny and Neville looked at her approvingly, as Malfoy was evidently annoyed

"I zink I will have zat wiz ze rice" Henri said, amused and he ordered his dish. Astoria was ironically a fast eater, but she hardly gained weight. After another half-hour, they were all ready to order dessert. Astoria was stumped, there were too many desserts to choose from. But then she remembered what Pansy ate at the welcoming feast, everything strawberry and Malfoy chose all the chocolate dishes. Astoria was a huge chocoholic and Malfoy would be stuck with a strawberry shortcake. Malfoy was, funnily enough, a table away from her, so she could definitely piss him off.

"Self-saucing warm chocolate pudding with chocolate ice-cream and butterscotch infused with Butterbeer sauce." Astoria said loud enough for Malfoy to hear. Malfoy looked crestfallen as he looked at his strawberry mess, or whatever it was anyway.

Astoria moaned at the perfect sweetness and bitterness of it all. And she shoved it down her mouth in perfect happiness.

Dumbledore told them all to stand aside and the dance floor was cleared. The orchestra played a beautiful waltz and the Champions with their dates took to the floor and soon, so did everyone else. She and Henri glided across the floor, moving in time with the waltz. Laura winked at her as she danced with Jacques, and Astoria couldn't help but roll her eyes at her. She and Henri ended the dance and Henri asked if he could dance with other people, Astoria letting him as she really didn't want to dance.

A couple of dances later. Malfoy came up to her, sitting in the vacated seats, her friends obviously dancing.

"What are you doing here ferret, I though Pansy was with you" Astoria said in a tired voice

"She was groping me. Fancy a dance?" he asked, taking her hand. She obliged and told him

"I hope you weren't implying it the wrong way" She said, to his mock-shocked face. The tango-like music was annoying her as they danced to it.

"I think you enjoyed your food" He mused

"Unlike you, I'll be old with a wonderful body while you will be in bed with your wife, fat." She said "No wonder you're dieting." Astoria said teasingly

"You can talk. Though, you can dance" Malfoy said

"I know. I've been to balls before, if you care to remember." Astoria said and as soon as the music ended, she ditched him and moved to the snowy grounds, sitting alone. The snow fell quite thickly that year, and she enjoyed sitting in the snow. But the fact Malfoy had followed her out was starting to piss her off.

"Malfoy, why the fuck are you here?" Astoria said exasperatedly

"I find it brings memories" he said

"Leave me alone or else, I will jinx you to hell and back" she practically growled and Malfoy took offence

"Fine. I will. You do know you're such a bitch" he said to her meanly and her turned away, walking, more like flouncing back to the castle.

Astoria was left alone sitting on a seat, near a bush. Tears were falling straight down, unashamedly. Malfoy was calling her a bitch, but who was he to say that, he was the one who was bullying first years, he was the one who would be Voldemort's number one employee, he was the one who was torturing her.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

The snow was falling around her, small flakes. Astoria looked like she was meant to be in the snow, the white flakes, as white as her skin. Her hair as black and shining as a raven's wing and her strength in the cold. He saw the tears trail down her face, though she wasn't succumbing to it. He couldn't help but feel guilty, to see tears ruin a face that pretty. Astoria was one of the only girls, save Granger and Weasley who would fight against him. He couldn't see anyone except her, Astoria in her beautiful, purple dress and black hair. Her grey eyes looked fierce right now, when she looked at him, he felt her gaze so intense, she was burning through him. But he saw that twinge of disappointment, to see him sink to such a low level. He was falling in every context.

* * *

Snape was patrolling the grounds and he said to her

"Miss Greengrass, what are you doing here?" he drawled as usual

"Wallowing in my self- pity sir" she said sarcastically, looking him in the eye "Is there a problem with that?"

"Yes. I suggest you go back to your common-room, it's nearly over anyway." He said and walked away.

Astoria sprinted up to her common-room, she had seen Hermione streak up, arguing with Ron. Ginny wasn't there so she would be. They had finished arguing when she entered. Hermione had gone into her dorm and was sobbing.

"Hermione…"

"Astoria. I guess I'm not the only one crying. Who are you crying over?" she asked

"Malfoy called me a bitch." She said and she sat on Hermione's bed arm around her.

"You know what, seeing as we're both in a slump and probably Ginny would join us, wanna eat out some of my chocolate stock?"

"I think that would be a wise choice" she grinned

Everyone was asleep after midnight. Astoria bought out some of her chocolate, meeting Ginny and Hermione in the common room.

"When I heard, I got Fred and George to nick some ice-cream out of the kitchens" Ginny said and pulled out three tubs out chocolate ice cream.

"You know. One day, I will jinx Malfoy so bad that he will wish that he never met me" Astoria said dreamily

"You know, I would love to too" Ginny said and Hermione nodded. So much for balls

* * *

Part 4: The second task

The second task was here and all Astoria could do was hope for Harry to turn up. She knew as fact that he was up late as she saw him come into the common room, while doing a Charms essay. He smiled at her before going up.

It was there when Astoria let go of her breath as Harry turned up late. Late and alive.

There they all started to wade into the water, getting in deeper and deeper. She saw Harry put something in his mouth and judging by the delay, it tasted like shit. Then he dove into the water and he hadn't come up in 2 minutes. That left her with one idea

"Shit. He used Gillywead. " Astoria said

"Ah. He has at least an hour or so, depending on the salinity of the water and stuff." Mia said

"Oh my god. Someone who knows this." Neville turned around

"Oh, yeah. Epic Herbologist" and the two moved to have an 'educated' Herbology conversation but to her misfortune, Snape was behind her

"Miss Greengrass. Thank you for the deduction." He said in his drawling voice '_Shit. He's in deep shit when he gets out. No, stuff that. I'm in deep shit"_ and with his bat-like movements, he swished around and walked back, probably to his dungeon.

"You're in deep shit" Alex said and Laura nodded

Astoria impatiently waited. Fleur was made to retire after she was attacked by the Grindylows. It was nearing the one-hour mark and Cedric was the first to finish. Now Astoria realised what was taken was their best friends… that meant they took Ron or Hermione. Cedric had taken Cho, it was well known that Cho was his girlfriend.

Next was Krum with…

"Wait, WHAT! Hermione?" Alex said suddenly

"Haha, you'd be surprised." Astoria knew things. She hung out in the library quite a bit to do research and sometimes she would see Krum, staring at Hermione in a more-than-friends way. Her initial reaction was 'WHAT THE HELL' eventually turning into 'AWW…'

Harry was last to turn up with Ron and a little girl, Fleur's little sister. There was a delay. Again. She snuck over in the bushes, pushing past the throng. She hid in the bush, near the water's edge. Dumbledore was there, talking to a mermaid. Probably the mer-leader or whatever it was. But she heard approaching sounds, so she scurried away back to the castle.

* * *

A/N: The little asteriks: A) David Tennant wasn't in anything major, so i wikipedia'd him and picked out that play Merlin. And the plum dress, well, i wanted to go the movie as i visualise Hermione as Emma Watson and i see her better in the movie dress. OMG Heston Bluementhal is on tonight's Masterchef and i am so pumped. dad's watching Masterchef marathons so i'm getting ideas for food LOL. And yeah, i HAD to mention all those Tenth Doctor things. If you can see any forshadowing... PLEASE REVIEW. And if you get critical of the friendship between Mione/Ginny/Tori... NO FLAMES, THERE IS A SPECIFIC REASON. If you want to put yourself up as a cameo, feel free :P And if you have any ideas to help me (i will tell you as it involves the next 2 books) PLEASE.


	7. 1994 Part 4

A/N: Hey kids. This is the 7th Chapter. May i add, a huge thank you to the 33 people who have read this story today (1/7/2012) and the 252 last month.

Dedication: To MioneEmma14, Bucky5, Rainbowsprings, The anonymous 'Guest' review and Glitchmob5 for making my 10 reviews. Thank you also to the people who have put this story on their alert/favourites list. LOVE YOU GUYS

Soz, still don't own Harry Potter.

* * *

The Outspoken: 1994 Part 4

The Third Task

A lot of things had happened since the Second task. Unexplainable things. But for once, she knew nothing about them, as she, Astoria always happened across vital information.

Here she was now. Waiting for the task to finish. Harry entered first with Cedric, Harry turning left and Cedric turning right. Viktor went next, he also turned right, while Fleur turned left. It was an anxious wait.

"Hey, what do you think'll happen?" Alex asked her

"I dunno, but I do not like the look of that maze. It seems, so evil. It's not normal" Astoria replied

"Hey, I'll introduce you guys to a couple of people. Hang on… they're. Aha, they're there." Astoria took Laura, Alex and Mia to where Hermione and Ginny where

"Hey, Hermione, Ginny. These are my dorm mates: Laura, Alex and Mia" Astoria introduced them.

"Hey guys. Honestly, I'm scared of what comes out of that maze" Ginny said

"I know. It's so dark. Your only salvation are red sparks and the chance a teacher saw you" Laura said

Astoria was getting impatient, it was a few hours later when she saw Fleur and Krum get taken out of the maze. At least it would be a Hogwarts victory. Though she would love for them both to come out of the maze. Astoria was pacing back and forth, with nothing to do, though admittedly, she did bring some chocolate with her.

"Oi, Greengrass!" Malfoy called

"What the fuck do you WANT ferret?" she asked

"Nothing. I just wanted to get your attention" he said

"And why would that be? Sometimes I think you're as thick as Crabbe and Goyle" She said

"Oh, nothing in particular. I just wanted a face that pretty to look at me" he said teasingly from the higher stand.

"Oh Malfoy, sweetie, You really should stop flirting. The prettier girls in the stands might get offended." She said to him. Then she screamed out into the crowd: "Oi, who wants Malfoy to serenade them" Several girls started squealing and stampeded over to him. Astoria took this as her chance to leave him.

"That was smart" Hermione said and the others agreed

"Sometimes, I wonder if that child is mentally touched." Astoria mused

Part 2: The death

Harry appeared in the middle of the field, clutching someone. There were cries of despair, Amos Diggory was wailing and everyone was shocked.

"No… it can't be." Mia said. Alex, Laura, Ginny, Mia and Hermione, along with herself were all crying now. Astoria knew that there would be a death. But the rules were modified, it couldn't be possible.

"Hang on. Why is Moody taking Harry away?" Hermione asked

"My mum's a death eater, she _fears_ Moody" Astoria said

"My parents work in the ministry" Mia said "Moody's crazy but he'll follow Dumbledore's orders to the letter. And Dumbledore said that Harry should stay there"

"Then _why_ is Moody taking Harry away" Ginny said.

There was a seriously grim mood as everyone mourned Cedric's death. Astoria motioned to her lot and they walked back to their common room. Unfortunately, she was yet again being tailed by Malfoy

"Greengrass. I didn't know you cared for Cedric." Malfoy said tauntingly. She noted that his cronies weren't there

"Everyone cared for him mate" she said clipped

"No I meant…" Malfoy said and Astoria took Alex's knife out of Alex's pocket and drew her wand. She slapped Malfoy and pushed him against the wall. Laura, Mia and Alex not bothered to do anything.

"YOU BASTARD. HAVE YOU GOT NO HEART. IF YOU DO IT'S PROBABLY MADE OF TROLL SHIT. IT'S CALLED RESPECT FOR THE DEAD." Astoria very nearly stabbed him, but instead she ran away, crying even harder, flustering the others.

-line-

Malfoy's POV

Draco had never been so scared of a girl, other than the time Granger punched him, but in the slap, he felt so much more than physical pain. His eyes were always wary at the silver knife, embedded with rubies and diamonds, his blood was that red, it was confusing to see that red on the stones, scaring him that he may already be dead. He was used to being threatened, but what scared him the most was that whenever he saw her angry at him, whenever she hurled his insults back, it hurt him more than his father ever did. Why did this admittedly pretty girl, smart, funny girl hate him so much? He would often see her from the other side of the grounds, laughing with her friends, making everyone else laugh, why was she the one, other than Potter, Granger, Weasley (and 'ette') who was so determined to hate him?

-line-

Part 3: In Remembrance

Astoria had never seen the Hall in such a gloomy mood. It had been a few days since Cedric died. Dumbledore was mid-speech when he made a toast to Cedric, in his memory. Dumbledore divulged that Voldemort had returned and that Moody was impersonated by Barty crouch Jr. and Crouch was kissed by a dementor. Dumbledore also toasted Harry for his bravery .

The train ride home was eventful.

"Do you think Voldemort's really back?" Laura asked

"If my parents are talking about dark and doomy stuff when I get home, then yes." Astoria said. Astoria was flicking through one of her diaries. Her first few pages were clippings of death-eaters and she looked at some of them.

_Barty Crouch Jr, Convicted with Bellatrix Lestrange (nee Black), Rudolphus Lestrange and Rabstan Lestrange for the torture of the Aurors Alice and Frank Longbottom into insanity._

She looked at the face that was Barty. She noted that he disturbingly looked like David Tennant, which was odd. Astoria gazed through the window, occasionally joining into the conversation. She had seen Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle bee jinxed by The Weasleys, Hermione and Harry and it bought a complete feeling of satisfaction to her. But now she was scared, if Voldemort was back, and he probably was, then everyone was in danger, starting with them Gryffindors.

They finally got off the train. Astoria picked up her owl and trunk, she promised to go over to Mia's house after a week, but not before she somehow figured out if Voldemort was back or not. And Astoria had a feeling she knew how to.

* * *

a/n: Sorry if it's short. I've found out that when i write about the Holidays, they tend to be longer. I'm up to the 5th book, so now would be a good time for you people to suggest plots and more Draco/Tori. I do plan for Astoria and the rest to join the DA or Astoria on her own and then cause a falling out. Also, please tell me what electives you would like Astoria to take, there isn't a giant intimidating review button any more, so feel compelled to type


	8. 1995 Part 1

A/N: Hey kids, so this is the latest update. Thank you for the 62+ people in 8 days to read this. Sorry for the lateness, i was caught up in my other fanfic; Contradictory.

Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter or the tiny portion involving Doctor Who or even Murder of Rodger Acroyd by Agatha Christie. Coincidentally, they've all been referenced in Doctor Who

* * *

1995 Part 1: Eavesdropping

Astoria _could_ be sweet and innocent when she wanted. Those holidays were essential, she only had 7 days to find out as much as she could. So every day, Astoria dressed in those pureblood robes, necessitating the use of a corset, though she didn't wear it, she was skinny enough. To make her parents even more 'proud' she did her hair the way a wizard would, done half in a bun, half out, with a few curls, she felt like a medieval princess, the sleeves reflected that as they were full-length and dangly. The dresses Astoria wore were never green, but more Royal purple and silver.

One day in the holidays, she was wandering down a corridor of her townhouse aimlessly when she heard 2 things. 1) The Malfoys were coming and 2) They were going to discuss the Dark lord's rising.

Astoria was forced to come in, her mother carelessly handed her exquisite jewellery and told her to make herself presentable. Astoria decided to bludge this by hiding at one of the doorways, taking notes in her diary.

"Ah, Celeste, Orion." Mrs Malfoy said and she kissed them both, Mr Malfoy following suit

"Narcissa, Lucius, and Draco, pleasure to meet you. These are my daughters Daphne" Daphne curtsied "And oh- Astoria, well, she runs off quite a bit, such an insolent child." Celeste laughed, Mr and Mrs Malfoy laughing with her.

Astoria knew about one of the secret passages and she walked into the cupboard and looked through the pretty vent, she had little light to write with, but she could see things. They all talked in hushed tones, but Astoria heard snippets and something about an escape. Astoria rattled her brain, thinking about what it could be of. When Lucius said that Draco should run off, Astoria ran out of the cupboard and dusted herself down. She picked up one of her books that she had with her and walked calmly down the corridor, pretended that nothing had happened.

"Greengrass, fancy seeing you in a dress" he said

"Fancy seeing you where I live, no wonder you stalk me" she mused

"And is that…" He lifted the pendant that she was wearing, he seemed to have shorter as she was now at his eyes, but she must've grown.

"It's nothing you need know about" she said coldly and continued her way to the garden, sitting in the alcove, water tumbling at the water feature next to her.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

He though she looked ready to kill him. She was dressed in robes, with her hair done properly, she was in button-up boots that required hooks to do up and she was wearing jewellery. For all he knew, she could be concealing poison or a dagger. He also thought that she looked beautiful but then his mind interjected and he forced himself to scratch that thought, sad that he did. He wondered how a girl with the face of an angel could be so defiant, no wonder her parents seemed scared of her.

* * *

"And is that a muggle novel you're reading?'' he said disgusted

"Yes, yes it is, is there a problem with Agatha Christie? I'm sure I'll be inspired to create the perfect murder." Astoria was indeed holding a copy of The Murder of Rodger Ackroyd, she had snuck out on her first day back to go to an antique shop, they were selling so many items and seeing as Mia and Alex's birthdays were in July, she bought them gifts. Mia was to receive some Art Noveau jewellery to go with some 20's dresses, whilst Alex would get 19th century silk slippers, as she liked the ones she wore last time. It was there she found that novel complete with its original 1926-first-edition dust cover and red cloth with gold embossing.

"Now, now, you wouldn't want to disappoint your _dear_ parents" he smirked

"Haven't I done so enough?" and she flounced to her room upstairs, glad she only had to endure another 14 hours in her house.

* * *

Part 2: Mia's House

Astoria flooed there earlier than she should've it was in the middle of the night, but Mia had gotten her rushed note and was waiting for her.

"Dude, it sounded like torture" she said

"tell me about it." Astoria said, also happy to be in her summer dress, decorated in floral patterns. Mia helped take out her trunk and rucksack.

"Are you staying her for Christmas?" she asked

" Not allowed, have to go to those stupid pureblood balls. This year it's at Malfoy manor, so…" she mimed a choking guesture

"Not to worry, I've figured out how to use the gas stove upstairs, so I've started my hot chocolate, if you don't want that, I'm boiling the kettle" she said

"Nah, it's cool. Hey, is your bedroom connected to the floo?" Astoria asked, not bothered to go up the stairs

"Yeah, just say Smith place number 7" and Mia, with the trunk went first, Astoria with her rucksack following.

The smell of melting chocolate filled the air, and she was surprised that Mia's parents weren't aroused by it.

"Oh, my parents are out, they've got to go overtime at work right now. Oh, want some biscuits? When I got your note, I was baking here, I've figured out how to use this oven too" Mia pulled out the freshly-baked apple/cinnamon biscuits that were cut into stars. Astoria helped place them on a plate and Mia placed the tray on the dumbwaiter to get washed later. Mia was mixing the melting chocolate with the milk, combining them into a thick drink.

"Do your parents know you're out?" Mia asked when they sat down on the table with the mini-couches

"Nope, I left a letter though."

"And is You-know-who back?"

"Yeah. The Malfoys came over and they were bonding over it. My mum's going to be so weird now." Astoria said, sipping on the hot mixture. "That's good, did you make up the recipe?" Astoria asked

"Yeah, but the chocolate's from Hogsmeade, my sister went there and bought me an early birthday present."

"Speaking of, happy birthday!" Astoria ran to her rucksack and pulled out the wrapped box. Mia opened it and loved the jewellery inside and the small purse that they came with.

"Oh my god, I just remembered, I found some dresses we should dress up in. They're 20's, 40's and 50's. And I think these'll go nicely with one I found. Laura and Alex'll be here the day after the next. Laura's with her muggle aunt and Alex's mum is busy.

"Hey, For Alex's birthday, do you want to do a tea-party? It'll be absolutely hilarious and fun and to be honest, you're a great cook, you could try cooking some cakes and macaroons." Astoria thought

"You flatter me too much. But yeah, let's do an 19th century tea-party and see how she reacts."

"Wait, late Victorian or Regency. I got her these pretty slippers from that era."

"I think Regency, she seemed to love those empire-waisted dresses better."

"Yeah. And they're lighter." Soon after they both fell asleep on their couches, their teacups and platters empty.

That morning they both took a shower and got changed so they could go shopping.

"Morning mum, dad" Mia said as she sat down outside in the sunshine, Astoria trailing behind.

"Astoria glad to see you" Mrs Smith Hugged her "Mia told us you got here at the crack of dawn"

"Actually, earlier" and the parents laughed.

"Happy Birthday, Darling" her dad said and gave her the presents.

"Mum, we're going shopping, we'll be back by 5, because I got an owl from Alex and Laura and they're meeting at London to take the train here, they'll be here at that time"

"Okay, just take care. Voldemort's back, I'm not denying it, there's substantial evidence that the Ministry just keeps skimming over." Her dad said and they ran out of the house.

* * *

Part 3: Breakfast at Tiffany's, well actually a bookshop

The walk wasn't that far to the main town centre. Mia showed her around the places and they decided to eat a croissant at one of the bookshops with a café.

"I'll have the chocolate croissant and a babycino." Astoria said to the waitress

"I'll have the cinnamon French toast and a chocolate latte" Mia said and the waitress walked off. "Oh, hello Amelia!" Mia saw a little 5-year old girl with vivid red hair and pale white-skin

"Hello Mia!" Amelia got off her chair and ran up to her. Astoria noticed that the little girl had a strong Scottish accent.

"Amelia, this is Astoria, but you can call her Tori, she's a friend of mine from school" Mia introduced and the little girl waved

"Hello Amelia." Astoria said, she had to admit, this kid was cute

"I'm Amelia Pond. Tori, where do you go to school?" she asked

"I go to a school in Scotland, it's a boarding school." Astoria explained

"I used to live in Scotland. But my parents are gone" she said sadly

"Oh. I'm sorry. My auntie, Amelie, it's the French word for Amelia, died before I was born, but she was really nice according to my older sister."

Amelia was called by her presumably Auntie and she ran off, calling to them "Bye-bye Tori, Bye-bye Mia". As soon as she left, the waitress came back with their orders,

" You know, Mum's latte is much better than this. It's obviously one of those machine-made ones where they just change the amount of coffee added" Mia said. Astoria wondered whether she was planning on being a gastronomist when she grew up. When they finished, Mia paid the cost and they went off in search of a decent antique shop to browse in. Sure enough, they found one near the bookshop. They entered the shop and it was dark, it reminded her of the basement back home.

"Hey, do you have one of those long lamp-y things in your room?" Astoria asked

"No, why" Mia replied

"Well, I found this." It was a brown, maple lamp, the cover itself was blue, it was about Astoria's height "I know how to paint it and re-upholster it. It's easy."

"Cool. Well, I've found this cookbook for Regency tea-parties." Mia showed her the book and it was completely intact.

"Okay" Astoria said. "We'll take them. Excuse me" she said to the shop-keeper "Do you drop off things?"

"Yes dearie" the old lady replied kindly

"Okay, can you drop this lamp at the Smith House? We'll pay it now"

"Good" she and Astoria discussed the price. Mia and Astoria left excited about what they could do with it.

"Well, I think we should go back to your place. For all we know, Voldemort could be coming." Astoria said worried, looking at the strangely overcast sky, it was odd for a mid-summer's day

"True, but mum told me we should buy a few cakes or something for later on." Mia said

"Is there a bakery around here. I would really like a custard tart" Astoria asked

"Yep. C'mon" she and Mia ran to the other side of the street

"Hello Mia" The baker's daughter said

"Hi Mels. How are you?" Mia asked kindly

"Bored. Mum won't let me go to Amelia's house" she said unamused

"Hi Mels. I'm Tori" Astoria said nicely

"Hello, visiting are we?" she said

"Yeah, my parents are being depressing" Astoria said "Anyway. Could we have that chocolate gateaux and some of those custard tarts."

"Yep. Mummy? Mia wants a choc gateaux and 6 custard tarts" Mels shouted to the back. A dark-skinned, older woman with dark hair came out.

"Mia. Hello. Here it is."

"How much?" Mia asked, pulling out her wallet

"Don't be silly. It's your birthday. You don't need to pay." Mels Mum told her

"Are you sure?" Mia asked. Astoria took the cakes and Mia put some money in the tips jar.

"I had an idea. We should do a 50's photo-shoot with all these cakes" Astoria said as she carefully carried the tarts

"Yes" Mia said excitedly

"We'll make it a birthday shoot." Astoria said. They talked the entire way through, thinking about how they would do the shoot.

* * *

"Okay" Laura said as they sat at the table in Mia's room the cakes were all placed on stands, looking pretty.

"Astoria Artemis Greengrass. I may just kill you" Alex said as she stepped out looking pretty in a purple 50's ballgown.

"But you look pretty" Mia said reassuringly in her blue 50's dress

"Not bloody likely" Alex said

"Hey, do you know how to change the filters when you develop it?" Laura asked, examining her professional camera

"You could ask Creevy. He knows this stuff" Astoria said, pining back a curl

Laura took all the shots she wanted, varying from the people in the frame, to the cakes. The bedroom was filled with ribbons for streamers, with blue and white balloons. Astoria decided to set it as a birthday party, so they had sparkling apple juice as champagne. Mia found her old soda stream and using strawberry juice, made a pretty convincing mock-rosé.

* * *

Part 4: Alex's Birthday

Astoria made sure they were all dressed in the prettiest day clothes possible. Their presents were stacked next to the table of the summer house.

"Dude, Happy Birthday!" they said, crowding around her. They were all dressed in period regency clothing.

"You had to torture me, didn't you" Alex said to Astoria.

They spent the day eating on the best cakes they had ever seen, thanks to Mia's baking skills, which were a force to be reckoned with. Astoria doubted that the house elves could cook this. Alex loved every present she got, they were all special as she turned 13.

"The letters arrived from my parents" Astoria said as her owl Aphrodite swooped in the summer house. She slit it and read "Okay, I get to go to Hogsmeade" she said as her permission slip was enclosed.

"To Daphne, who probably let you go" Laura said, holding her goblet of Butterbeer in toast

"To Daph" they all toasted.

"You know, I really owe her" Astoria said thoughtfully as they turned back into the conversation

* * *

PLEASE REVIEW MON AMI!


	9. 1995 Part 2

A/N: Okay, back to school tomorrow... sadness. So Tori's holidays are posted today as well haha

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 9: There will be order

Astoria sat at the sorting feast, feeling ridiculously disgusted at the hag who was their new DADA teacher. According to Mia's parents, Umbridge was a right old hag. Astoria wanted to use the word: Umbridge, as an adjective from now on.

"That was seriously interesting" Astoria said

"How was that interesting?" Laura asked

"Yeah, I was falling asleep" Alex said.

"The Ministry's probably trying to control Hogwarts, after the whole Voldemort thing. WHICH IS REAL" Astoria said, tucking into her bangers and mash.

"But, that means DADA's going to get a hell of a lot more boring" Mia said

* * *

Part 1: Pink knit wear

"You will not need your wands" Umbridge said, dressed in pink knit-wear. Astoria was compelled to gag

"Is there a problem Miss Greengrass?" she asked

"No Ma'am. I just choked on my own spit" she said innocently. Well, she did, the sight of the outrageous scarf. She would wear Tom Baker's 11 foot long scarf over her knit-pink any day.

"Then I suggest you do it in silence" Umbridge said. "Now you will not need your wands. The Ministry sees fit that you learn theory. If you learn substantial theory, you will be able to perform it." Umbridge forced them to read the first few chapters. But Astoria was bored. She wanted to keep reading Murder on the Orient express. She was day dreaming, she wondered who could've killed him?

The bell went and she moved to her next lesson. Care of Magical creatures. Hagrid was supposed to be her teacher, but professor Grubly-Plank was substituting. She was admittedly a great teacher, but Hagrid was fun 24/7 and he naturally taught people.

Astoria was bored through lunch. It annoyed her really, she was probably going to be this bored year-round. Professor Burbage was the Muggle studies teacher.

Burbage was pretty cool to be honest. She was laid back, in a very Flitwick way, the only thing stopping you was your conscience and her skill at hexes. They started with muggle devices, telephones, computers, calculators. Astoria felt like sneaking a calculator for Alex's arithmancy, Astoria didn't take it as she was shit at maths anyway.

Days passed and it felt as if she was scheduled to see Umbridge every bloody day. Though, she did eat with the teachers. McGonagall was being such a bitch to Umbridge, that it amused her. Snape was pissed with the hag too, he DEATH STARED her, like he did with Lupin, except worse.

Potions was interesting. Snape was asking her questions, though most likely to torture her.

"Miss Greengrass, please tell this moronic idiot" Pointing to that Collins bloke from Hufflepuff. Astoria made an apologetic gesture behind Snape's back "What a bezoar is"

"Sir, a bezoar is a stone derived from the stomach of a goat. It heals you from most poisons" she said

"If you think, you are THAT smart" he said in his dangerous voice. "What is the difference between ashphodel and aconite?"

"Sir, they're the same thing. Also known as wolfsbane" she said "You use it in a draught of living death"

Astoria was happy during History of Magic, as for once, she had the time to finish reading Murder on the Orient express, she would never have expected that ending.

Ancient Runes was interesting, the work and work load was worth it. They got to extract information from some of the world's most exclusive works.

Umbridge was really getting to her. She wanted to choke her with her own pink scarf and see her writhe in horror.

* * *

Part 2: Hogsmeade

Umbridge proclaimed herself Hogwarts high inquisitor, pissing off everyone, including Hermione, so it was no surprise to see her come storming up to her, Alex, Laura and Mia in the library, just before curfew.

"Hello Astoria, Laura, Alex, Mia." She said

"Hey" they replied in unison

"Listen." She whispered "Do you think you could join me for a meeting on the Hogs Head. Harry, Ron and I are thinking of starting up a little group to actually STUDY for DADA. So, do you guys want to come next meeting. It's near Halloween." She said earnestly

"Well, I'd join" Astoria said rebelliously

"Me too" Alex said

"Well, no offence, but my parents are anit-Voldemort and everything, but I just don't want to join. I've never been a clubs person" Mia said

"Well, I don't think I will either. But I'll help out if you need dates or anything" Laura said "Or professional photography" she said brightly. Hermione laughed.

"Okay, you two. Meet us at the Hogs Head, at …" they whispered as Madam Pince came stalking by. They agreed to meet there and they all left for the Gryffindor dormitory.

Hogsmeade weekend had finally arrived and Astoria was pumped. She could finally go around in her favourite muggle outfits, to pig out on chocolate. If it weren't for Voldemort and Umbridge, it would be the best days of her life.

"Laura…" Astoria asked, looking at the sign for Honeydukes

"Tori…" Laura replied back, and the four of them entered the sweetshop. Astoria quickly got her hands on every sweet imaginable. And using her handsome money in her private Gringotts vault, she paid for kilograms worth of chocolates, sherbets, sour lollies.

They all entered the 3 broomsticks and ordered a flagon of Butterbeer each.

"What's hag doing here?" Alex asked, nodding to Umbridge. Indeed, the entire pub had gone silent.

"Good question" Astoria whispered.

"Did she JUST order a Firewhiskey?" Laura asked. They were right next to the bar and could hear every order.

"With a shot of muggle tequila. Whew." Astoria said.

Astoria was loving every sip of her Butterbeer, making a mental note to buy some for later. The feeling it gave, it couldn't compare, it warmed up every bit of her from the inside. Alex and Astoria left early to go to the meeting at hogshead.

They were some of the last, but it was pretty crowded for them. There was that Cho chick from the year before. Neville, Luna, Hermione, Harry, Ginny were probably going to be the leaders from what she could figure out. Astoria was pissed, how could none of them believe Voldemort was back.

She signed the paper near the bottom, Alex preceding her. That Smith bloke was pissing her off. Was her third year seriously going to be pissing off?

"Greengrass" Malfoy said as she walked up the pathway to the post office

"Malfoy. Do tell me, why is it when you meet me, you're always alone? Underestimate me?" she said. Alex, Laura and Mia were at the toilets.

"I don't know. You tell me." He said evasively. Astoria's mind was ticking, trying to comprehend it

"Malfoy. Why don't you go and eat a flubberworm" she said before leaving him alone.

* * *

Draco's POV

He WAS nice. He wasn't insulting her. Why was it that she was so against him? He didn't get it. All the girls seemed to be all over him, except this one. Why was it that she looked as if he never existed. He paused in his thoughts. He did not just think that. He death stared the shrieking shack. If he just thought that, it meant only one thing. He gulped and dismissed that thought.

* * *

Part 3: Dumbledore's Army

They started with disarming. Alex and Astoria were naturally partners

"Expelliarmus" Astoria said first. Alex's wand fell lazily to the floor. "Not strong enough" she said

"Okay" Alex said "Expelliarmus" Astoria's wand flew from her. Alex looked in shock, so did Astoria

"Alex" Harry said "Good work. Astoria, try to keep your hand more steady. Pretend it's I dunno, Malfoy and try to disarm him" he said. Astoria picked up her wand and tried again

"Expelliarmus" she said and Alex's wand flew out too.

"Okay guys, we'll send a message round for our next lesson" Harry concluded and they sneaked out to the common room.

* * *

There were several lessons before Christmas. Astoria found herself using her new-found skills to jinx Malfoy while his back was turned, he never suspected her, though he probably did.

"Reducto" the practise dummies she was practising on was reduced to ashes

"Good Work Astoria" Harry said "If you've done that part, try reducing a moving object" he said. Alex bewitched a moving object to zoom around rather like a snitch and Astoria, being naturally good at aiming, hit it in one go, the ashes sprinkling Smith.

"Oi, watch it bitch" he said

"Sorry, didn't see you" he voice laced with sarcasm

* * *

"Okay" Harry said at their final lesson "I'll see you after Christmas and we may even get to start on patronuses" he dismissed them all, wishing them a happy Christmas.

"Harry" Cho was last and she had a feeling she knew what was going on. Astoria ran out, hoping that Cho wouldn't date Harry. He and Ginny would be cute together.

"How was it?" Laura asked as Alex and Astoria made it up to the dorm

"Aw shit. Just remembered. I have to go to that bloody ball" Astoria palmed her forehead

"Good Luck" Mia said, eating another chocolate bar

"Either way, it was a cool lesson. Stunning people" Alex said

"Earlier, just because Harry wasn't here, people were gossiping. I don't know how he survives." Mia said shuddering

"I'll only be gone for 2 nights at the ball, then we'll meet at Laura's place, 'Kay?" Astoria confirmed

"Yep. Just don't get killed by you-know-who" Laura said.

* * *

A/N: i know it's short... sorry

Now please review. I have leftover cookies n' cream cake from my birthday... nut free may i add. If you don't... i will hunto you down using the TARDIS and turn you into... i dunno... a mushroom


	10. 1995 Part 3

A/N: Okay, this is truly where the Drastoria begins... haha

Shout out to anyone who has reviewed :) *Death stares rainbowsprings for reviewing*

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 10: Malfoy

Astoria was pissed. This year was fucking messed up. Umbridge and a ball at the Malfoys, wonderful.

"Astoria, you are not permitted to be rude. " Her mother said

"Yes mother, although, if Draco jinxes me, I will jinx him into oblivion" Astoria said calmly, starting a round of silent giggles from Daphne in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce.

"The Malfoys are one of the purest lines. They came here when Armand Malfoy came with that muggle William the conqueror. They have been the power behind the ministry and it will be foolish to remove it from them. If we do, the Dark Lord cannot have as he wishes" Orion said.

"Sir, shall I send a message that we approach" the chauffeur asked

"Yes, make it quick" he said clipped.

Astoria looked simply stunning. Her robes were black and white. It was sleeveless and simple. The bodice was all black and the skirt that flowed from the waist. But that was merely the top layer. The underskirt was white and from the parting to the left that showed the white, was a fold of white material, as if it was peeling back. Her hair was done in half-up, half-down way, it was parted to the left and done in a bit of a bun, the rest merely falling into simple curls. A strand of hair was left at the front and curled. Astoria wasn't wearing a tiara like Daphne. The theme was black-couture: diamonds and the dark side in masks. Astoria's jewellery were pearls and diamonds, her Ruby choker standing out. Astoria was forced to wear make-up as her parents were discussing her soon-to-be marriage, after she graduated. Daphne was going to be wed to Blaise Zabini, she was going to be stuck with either Malfoy or this bloke from Ravenclaw. Astoria's lipstick stood out as much as her ruby, her eyes enhanced with the power of the silvery, black eye shadow. Astoria's mask sat in her lap, waiting to be worn. It was silver, the metal gilded with pearls, the mask was a cat-eye style mask with a stick. The top-centre where it met the forehead was a fleur-de-lis with a diamond in the centre.

Daphne was throwing a fit on the colour black, but she compromised by wearing a predominantly black dress with pink chiffon underneath the black tulle. Her mother was in simple Death-Eater robes, her father in his most sombre black dress-robes. Astoria felt as if she was about to die.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

Draco looked out of the French window to see a silver Rolls-Royce approaching the gates, it magically melted through them. The windows were tinted, so he couldn't see her. It was only the day before when he found out that marriage negotiations were on the way. It was between Greengrass jr or this chick from Ravenclaw, and he hoped that it was Greengrass. She was easily the prettiest of all the girls he had a choice from and she was easily the smartest. The Ravenclaw girl was pretty, yet empty headed.

He felt uncomfortable in his robes. They were black, but with white shirt and black bowtie. His mask was on, tied at the back, it was a simple black mask, compared to his mother's butterfly outfit or his Father in death-eater robes. Crabbe and Goyle, undoubtedly with Parkinson and Zabini would be there, so would Greengrass. He gulped, what if she jinxed him… end of his pride.

* * *

She was forced to enter the party. Her mask held, she glided around the ballroom. Then it was that time of the night. She had to watch the Malfoys enter from the grand staircase.

"We welcome Mr Lucius Malfoy" Malfoy came out in death-eater robes, looking dignified

"My Lovely Wife, Narcissa Malfoy" Narcissa came down in a black-couture butterfly outfit "And my son, Draco Malfoy" Draco came down the stairs, unwillingly if anything. This time it was Astoria looking up at him from the stairs. He came down and the dance started.

"Miss Greengrass" he said to her, taking her hand

"Undoubtedly trying to figure out who to marry?" she mused

"Yes, between you, or Miss Stalinsky." He said

"Ah, Stalinsky will be your choice no doubt. Natalia is a Russian Beauty. They say her great-grandmother, the Princess Dragimiroff was on the Orient express with Poirot." She said.

"I was weighing towards you" he said simply

"Well, you will change your mind in due course" beneath her calm face was her inner self screaming her head off in terror. The Dance ended and he took her to the side of the room, to the veranda facing the snow at the back.

"You left quickly" she said "I lasted a full half-hour longer than you did" she mused

"Well, if they're talking about the Dark Lord, then I'm gone"

"So am I. I will never understand their fascination with a bloke without a nose." Malfoy smiled

"Why don't you ever smile?" she asked

"Because I have nothing to smile about" he said. "_great going Malfoy, flirt while you're at it"_

'_Oh my god, did he just… I will kill him.'_ "Really?" Astoria said lightly.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

If only she was 15, then he would've snogged the living daylights out of her. He finally admitted defeat, he fancied her and when it came to that point in time, his choice would be her. And they would have adorable little daughters with her eyes, he thought disturbingly. If they did have kids, he would rip his hair out trying to keep them tamer than Astoria. Why did every pureblood have to have an arranged marriage?

* * *

Astoria left him, to look at the fountain up close. It was perhaps the only pretty thing there, the water splashed about playfully, Malfoy moved up to her.

"Who knew that Voldemort liked parties?" she joked

"Yeah, total ladies' man" he joked back. Astoria's mind Froze, Malfoy, joking back, '_bloody hell, he's going to fucking marry me. Shit… shit...shit…shit'_

"Well…. I believe I shall be going." She realised her hand was in his. He kissed her gloved hand and she walked as gracefully as possible to the entrance hall, there at the fireplace, she took a fistful of floo and went to Laura's place.

* * *

"Tori?" she was flooed to Laura's room where the other 2 were.

"Oh my god. I'm going to fucking Marry Malfoy" she said shocked as she shook in their arms

"Look, in fairness, the guy's pretty hot" Mia said

"Not now Mi" Alex said

"But.. like… he kissed" they gasped "My hand. This glove is going to need a whole lot of sterilisation" she threw off her right-hand-glove on the floor

"Who was the choice between?" Mia asked

"Me and Natalia Stalinsky" she said gloomy

"Ow. He'd pick you, you sound hotter coz you jinx people older than you" Mia said

"Why the hell is this happening?" she literally shouted

"Hey, you got Malfoy's attention, you look hot in that outfit and you managed to floo to my place without anything or anyone knowing. That's pretty damn good." Laura consoled.

"Here. I got some spare clothes." Alex said, as she was the closest to her in build

"Thanks." She said as she was given a shirt, pyjama pants and a dressing gown. "I am dying in these heels." She kicked off the heels and took off all the jewellery

'How much are you wearing mate?" Alex said incredulously

"Enough to make my family the attention" she said sadly "Oh, the theme was Black Couture, diamonds and the Dark side in masks." She added

"Haha, hilarious really" Mia said as Astoria was dressed in the clothes Alex lent her.

"But OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HAVE TO SPEND THE REST OF MY FUCKING LIFE WITH MALFOY" she said

"Well… if he's good in bed, then you won't be complaining" Alex teased

"Oh, eww, eww, eww" Astoria said disturbed

"Really, 'Lex, Really?" Mia asked

"Honestly, I was banking on you to volunteer to burn their sheets" Alex said

"I was" Mia replied back.

* * *

Daphne's POV

She and Blaise had been snogging in one of the bedrooms. He was pretty hot. And it was close to a bed. But her Mother was next door having tea, and she, was pretty loud, if she heard anything, then she could be stuck with Goyle…

"Daphne. Where is your sister?" her mother asked as she barged in

"She's 14 mother, for all you know she could be pregnant with Malfoy's son" she said

"Where is she?" her mother asked again

"I don't know, she was downstairs a few minutes ago" Daphne said truthfully.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to leave without her." Her mother said haughtily and left

"Next time?" Blaise said in defeat

"Definitely" she winked, leaving the room. Astoria had definitely left to Laura's place. Daphne knew her sister back-to-front. Daphne would send her clothes for the rest of the holidays and her present from her. Her parents had ceased present giving to Astoria ever since she was sorted into Gryffindor. But there always was the possibility, she was pregnant with the next Malfoy heir. _'Good Job Astoria'_, Daphne thought for her if that was happening.

* * *

"Astoria, your sister's here It's clothes for you" Laura's Mother said

"Oh, Daph?" Astoria said startled at Daphne being in Australia

"Okay, nice to know you aren't pregnant" she said. Her mouth fell to the floor

"Seriously?" Astoria asked

"Just kidding. Anyway, got your trunk that you packed. And your present. Happy Christmas" Daphne left and flooed back home.

"Wait, time difference, that means it's only Christmas, right?" Astoria asked

"Yep." Laura replied

"Is it always this hot at Christmas?" Astoria asked

"Well, we've had worse" Laura said.

"On that depressing note" Mia said, moving on

"The beach is just outside, it's a private stretch for the people who live here" Laura said as they all ran up to get changed. When they went out, they were told that it was too rough and they had to use the pool instead. The pool was built into the sea, with the sand around it. They weren't complaining as they spent the less-harsh hours of the day in the pool. Laura told them as the sun was too harsh, that they should only spend 9:00-1:00 in the pool then come back later at around 4:00 in the afternoon.

The beach stalls around the area were fun and interesting as there were little take-away stores where they bought chips and a hell of a lot of ice-cream. The market stalls were filled with interesting artefacts and there was no shortage of sugar. To Astoria, it was heaven, except for the fact that she was going to marry Malfoy.

* * *

Okay, please review... i have cake *grin*

And that bit on Armand Malfoy, for you people who are clueless, COS has now been released on pottermore, and theres background info on them :) I had my bday and got really cool merchandise


	11. 1995 part 4

A/N: yes... It's got a bit of an arranged marriage bit. But, you wouldn't expect the stuff that happens in later books. I'm sorry if it's slightly anachronistic, i'm trying to write this so that the story flows with it. You'd be surprised why a whole lot of thins happen

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 11: The Hag's Headmistress

"How is McGonagall not headmistress" Alex said in their dorms

"No idea, though, it's probably some Ministry propaganda" Astoria said

"Well, that means training will be kicked up a notch" Mia stated, as she unpacked more of her items

"Hopefully, Harry promised to teach us the Patronus Charm" Astoria said, before going reaching for the oarce. She had just gotten a small package from Malfoy and she was still worried that she was going to be forever stuck with that blonde, admittedly hot git.

"What you get?" Alex asked

"It's.. oh shit. I'm going to Marry Malfoy" Astoria said stuck. Malfoy had sent her a traditional gift, a pure-blood bracelet, the goblin-made silver, charmed with ancient magic. It was decorated with dripping pearls and moonstones, diamond crescent-moons, a rope of diamonds falling down a side. It was a typical Malfoy-gift, over extravagant, but quite the sight. She noticed a large ruby, the centre piece where an emerald probably once was, next to it, she saw her name, entwined with Malfoys: _Astoria Artemis Greengrass_, there were a few vines with stars, connecting it with the name _Draco Lucius Malfoy_

"Who knew marrying Malfoy came with all the perks" Laura said

"I'm not bloody wearing that" Astoria said.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

Christmas 1995

Where was she? He couldn't find her all night. She wasn't a princess. Was she? He held the velvet box, inside the most goddamn beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Malfoy" Natalia said, she was clinging onto him like there was no tomorrow, as if he'd pick her

"What" he said coldly

"Oh, did you miss me?" she purred. She was pretty, but dumber then both his cronies combined. How she ended up in Ravenclaw, he didn't know

"No, now, go away" he turned back, looking for Astoria

"Oh. You're picking her, aren't you. You're picking that ugly bitch over me" she said infuriated, but in a soft, quite voice

"She's a hell of a lot prettier than you. Astoria's a Gryffindor, and Gryffindors are hot" he said "You're an ugly, dumb nerd, you're a slut" he said. How dare she infuriate him. Natalia stood there in her way-too slutty outfit, how she managed to wear that dress, it never occurred to him. He for once, saw her flaws, she was way too short, she was dumb, her eyes were really dull and her hair wasn't even real.

"You what!" she said

"I saw you with McClaggen, I was going to pick you, and I tried looking for you, and know what I saw. I saw a whole lot of jizz, I saw your robes all over the floor in the broom cupboard." He ended coldly, he left and went to his room, for the first time in a while, he cried. He locked himself in there like a little girl.

He had no idea how to contact her. Daphne had said she was in AUSRALIA, of all places, she did know it was about 40 degrees Celsius out there, right? There was no way his owl was going to make that journey in at least a MONTH. So he settled on first day back. Then he realised, she definitely wasn't going to wear it with that giant emerald. So he sent the package to Gringotts, getting it swapped with one of the very few rubies their family owned. His father had sent him a note with the bracelet, he re-read it out of boredoms sake

_This was given to Diane DuPont by Armand Malfoy upon their arrival in England in 1066. They were granted a large Manor in Wiltshire. The moons were to represent his love for Diane, named after the goddess herself. The family over time has removed/added pieces for each of their chosen. It is your task to pick whom you are to be with forever and what they shall cherish. Fail to do so, your life WILL BE in jeopardy._

_-Lucius Abraxas Malfoy_

Typical of his father, always signed by his full name. He looked out the window and saw his missed opportunity at Astoria, he'd do anything for her, but she wouldn't do the same. If only she knew he waited for her. God, it sounded so cliché, but he'd do it

* * *

"I should let him know I got it" Astoria said and she quickly wrote a note, sending it with Aphrodite

* * *

"Drahco" Daphne said, annoying him with the ah

"Yes" he said annoyed

"You hahve ah lettah" she said again, handing him the cream parchment. He quickly slit it and read the note.

_Malfoy. I got the bracelet. Thank you. Astoria_

Her handwriting was neat, and looped. She wrote with force, probably not wanting to write it.

"Dear, dear Tori. When will you learn?" Malfoy muttered aloud

* * *

Part 1: The Twin's Drop out and Detentions

"What the FUCK?" Astoria asked as she joined the rumpus

"NO WAY!" Alex said as the Twins accioed their brooms out of the office labelled 'headmistress' though it had been jinxed to say 'Bitch Mistress', 'Kinky With Fudge', 'The Minister's Mistress' and 'That Fucking ugly Bitch' on different occasions.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes…" Cool, joke merchandise. Was what went through Astoria's mind. Was how they could leave them in DADA now. They hadn't done patronuses yet…

* * *

Part 1 and ¾

"Astoria. Concentrate. Happy thought" Harry said. What happy thought was there for her? She was sort of semi-abused

"Astoria, there's heaps of happy moments" Alex said, sensing her thought.

"Okay…" Astoria said. She thought. What about the time she had found a cute little bunny at that market in Australia, they fed it a little carrot.

"Expecto Patronum" Astoria said clearly, but only manage vapour

"Okay, try again" Harry said. She thought of another moment, Daphne getting her Aphrodite

"Expecto Patronum" she said again, managing more vapour

"Nearly there, happier, much happier. Think of it this way. It's powerful, more than happy. It has to be both" Harry said

"Come on Tori." Alex said encouragingly. Astoria rattled her 'mini-pensieve' she remembered a moment as a child. She had never really thought about it, but she was about 3 or so, Malfoy had shared her favourite cupcake.

"Expecto Patronum" Astoria said again, with as much power as she could, she was nearly falling to the floor, but it was well worth the effort. She saw a silvery Robin flit around the floor, running into Finnigan's boar and Weasley's Jack Russell.

"Good job. That's a really cool patronus" she said

"Alex, your turn" Harry said.

* * *

Alex's POV

There was only one thought that stood out in her mind. Getting into Hogwarts. No more bullying. No more teasing, no more name calling. Just fun

* * *

"Expecto Patronum" Alex said, producing her silvery nightingale

"How'd you do that?" Astoria asked, astounded she got it first go

"I just thought of something powerful. Getting out of that muggle hell-hole was all I needed" Alex said rather sadly.

"Well, can you two keep trying? I need you to keep practising, you'll be able to keep doing them again.

* * *

"Stupefy" Alex sent at Astoria, but Astoria rebuked it with a quick shield charm

"Petrificus Totalus" Astoria sent, but Alex, being agile dodged it and literally whispered her next curse

"Shit. Mucus Ad Nauseum" Astoria said. Alex was sent on the floor, her nose running.

"Sorry" Alex said

"I should be, we were duelling" Astoria undid the charm and Alex's nose cleared up.

"Okay, well done girls" Harry said. "Guys, That's it for NOW" Harry said and they all went back up.

"I still can't believe That Laura's in the hospital wing" Alex said as they moved up to that side of the castle

"I know. I HATE Malfoy, I don't give a shit if I end up bearing his kids. I'm going to kill him" Astoria said

"Hey, can't you divorce him for his money?" Alex asked

"Can't. Wizard marriages don't allow ectoplasmic interlocutory" Astoria said

"Ah. Oh well." Alex said in defeat. They walked down the several winding staircases from the 7th floor. Mia met them on the 6th floor where they walked to the 3rd, to the hospital wing.

"Hope Laura's alright" Mia said

"I still don't know how she was poisoned" Alex said sadly

"The results'll come back today, it means that we'll find out what she was poisoned with" Mia said hopefully

"Though, Daph told me, my parents were planning to do something about my 'choice of friends' now that I'm getting married in another 5 years" Astoria said

"Ah. If you have anything to prove against him, we'll be able to put them in Azkaban" Mia said hopefully

"But, Azkaban isn't all that safe. There was a break out just the other day, remember?" Alex interjected. They entered the wing

"Laura, are you alright?" Mia ran over. McGonagall was there

"You girls got here on time. I didn't want anyone else knowing. Not even Poppy" McGonagall said.

"Professor, what is it?" Astoria asked

"It's unfortunately a self-brewed poison. She'll get better, no doubt, but she'll have to go to St Mungos for a full treatment" she said

"Miss Greengrass, you are the only one with family suspicions. Is there any possible motive towards your parents" McGonagall said gravely

"Daphne told me that my parents disapproved of my friend choice. She told me that they may end up going to drastic measures, cause, as much as I deny it. I'm going to marry Malfoy" Astoria said sadly

"Nice to know what is happening in Pure Blood circles these days" McGonagall mused "Just keep in mind" she said as they left "You may have the key to changing Malfoy for the better" on that amusing note. Astoria helped madam Pomfrey move Laura to the stretcher with Alex and Mia, before uneasily moving back to her dorm. She felt like it was her fault that her friends would be bumped off. One by one.

* * *

"You. Greengrass." Umbridge pointed at her "What is the incantation for the disarming spell?" she asked in her sickly voice. She was in a corridor and Umbridge to it to asking people to perform spells, just to see if they were in Dumbledore's Army

"I thought we weren't allowed practical?" Astoria said dully

"I said, what is the incantation?" she repeated. Astoria pulled out her wand and shot a disarming spell at her

"Expelliarmus"

"Dear. Send this note to McGonagall." Umbridge brought her the little pink scroll

"Yes." Astoria flounced out of the room, but she was soon followed by Umbridge who ran out of the room, into her office. She met McGonagall in her office, but she felt the coin grow warm in her pocket.

"Professor, I have to go." Astoria said urgently

"Miss Greengrass, you need to face the consequences." McGonagall said

"But Miss. Hermione's set the charm on the galleon, and we have to meet her, she's probably in danger from Umbridge. We all promised to help her out" Astoria literally ran to the door, but was pulled back.

"Miss Greengrass. I'm afraid you can't do anything. Your detention will be tomorrow night." She said curtly. Astoria sprinted out the door and ran to the 7th floor corridor, running into.

"Malfoy. What are you doing here?" Astoria played It cool. She was going to stop him for as long as she could. She was on the way to get Alex, realising she wasn't at DADA

"I was about to ask you the same question" he drawled "You don't like the bracelet do you" he asked bluntly. She was put on the spot. Not expecting that

"It's admittedly pretty." Astoria said truthfully "Needs to be smaller" to tease him

"So…" This was getting awkward. '_Really? Astoria. Really?"_ she thought

"Yes. I was saying. Umbridge. Where is she?" Astoria diverting the question

"She's in her office. She's watching out." Malfoy said evasively "Where were you going?" he asked

"Exploring areas that are not out of bounds" she said easily. She turned a corner and hid in the closet. She looked out and saw Malfoy run back to a spot in the corridor

"HE WAS IN MY FIREPLACE. THEY'RE ALL HERE!" Umbridge spoke. Malfoy ran to the fireplace, flooing to the nearest fireplace to her office. Astoria took one of the short cuts, however too late, she was held back by the crowd, several teachers and an annoying 7th year. By the time she got there; Neville, Ron, Ginny and Luna were all held by the inquisitorial squad.

"lemme go" a muffled Luna said. Astoria glanced at Ginny who saw her, she widened her eyes and Astoria whispered a small spell. Ginny sent a bat-bogey hex at Malfoy and they all struggled against their captives, eventually getting free. The Slytherins were all bound in the corner with Astoria's help.

"Where's Hermione and Harry?" Astoria asked

"They took Umbridge into the forest to find that supposed weapon Dumbledore left" Ginny said

"Go. I'll cover from here" Astoria said. They four of them ran out the door towards the forest. However, she ran into Snape, his face popping out of the fireplace. Astoria pulled out her wand, holding it steady

"What the hell were you doing" Astoria said

"Miss Greengrass, detention" he said surprised

"Well, go coordinate with Umbridge, I've got detention tomorrow anyway" she said "Were you contacting the Order?" Astoria asked

"As a matter of fact yes. Let me assume that you are part of the group so dubbed Dumbledore's Army" Snape deducted

"Yes." She said impatiently "Sir, Harry and Hermione are in the forest looking for a supposed weapon. There ISN'T ONE" she said urgently

"Greengrass. I know" he said "I want you to go to Professor McGonagall's office. She has a china cat there. It's a portkey. Tell her it's urgent" he said. His cape swished along the floor as he ran towards the door to the lower floors. Astoria sprinted too, reaching Minerva's office

"Professor. Harry and Hermione took Umbridge into the forbidden forest to look for a supposed weapon. Snape-" she was cut off

"Professor Snape" McGonagall corrected

"He told me to use this portkey." The witch nodded and took her hand. The cat glowed blue and she felt as if her navel was being pulled by a giant hook. Into a place in the caves.

"Miss Greengrass, what are you doing here?" Dumbledore said unsurprised

"Sir. Snape" she was cut off

"Professor Snape" he corrected

"Yes. Anyway, he contacted the Order. Harry and Hermione took Umbridge into the forbidden forest to find a supposed 'weapon' that you were supposed to have left." Astoria explained yet again. She was literally re-explaining herself.

"Then, time is of essence" he said. He took her hand and they took the Portkey back. "Miss Greengrass, I want you to keep an eye on the inquisitorial squad. Keep them away from any possible going on's" he said sternly

"Yes sir" Astoria said as she ran into the broom cupboard where she left the squad. She reversed all their memories of the past couple of hours, up to where Malfoy saw Astoria. She took only him out and revived him. If it meant semi-seduction, it would have to do. Alex really _was_ rubbing off on her

"So." Draco said again. Back to the awkward moment "What are you doing?" he asked "You know, in the summer"

"I'll probably be in Leadworth" she said "Not that I'm complaining." Astoria said. She needed to keep him busy for another hour before Dumbledore came back. "THAT'S IT" Astoria snapped. She was so tired of all the pretense. "Petrificus Totalus" Astoria said. Running away. She was going to defend this castle. One way or another.

* * *

"Hermione? Is everything alright?" Astoria asked in a now empty common room

"No. He's back. We've always known that. Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black was killed." Hermione said

"Sirius wasn't a death eater, his brother was. Sirius was on the light side" Astoria said

"He was convicted by Peter Pettigrew" Hermione continued

"That RAT" Astoria said. She knew that Sirius wasn't a death eater, but she comprehended it. Peter was alive, he was the instigator, he was the reason for a lot of things

"I know. Well. Umbridge is trapped with the centaurs. And we're all back safe" Hermione said

"I'm sorry I didn't get there on time. I was stuck with McGonagall, she tried to keep me back coz now I have detention" Astoria rambled on

"It's fine. Harry would've said you were too young" Hermione said

"I would've said so was he" Astoria retorted, before a second of laughter. She moved up to her dorm. And then it hit her, Alex would've been next on her parents list. Alex was in her bed, reading her notes.

"Alex. We have to be prepared" Astoria said. Agreeing that these holidays, more than ever

* * *

A/N: Yes, we're bumping them off one by one...

Please review... :) I'm sorry if it's awkward between Tori/ Drahco. yes i spelt that with a h. Well, it's going to be, what do you expect


	12. 1996 Part 1

A/N: This latest installment is shorter than i usually would write. sorry about that. Anyway, please review this story, i would really appreciate it. Oh, and sorry, i just realised that earlier, i posted the wrong chapter... it's slightly awkward... anyway, if you accidentally liked that chapter, That's Contradictory, my hp/doctor who crossover.

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 12: Not so sunny holidays

Part 1: Grim Mood

"No point of me going back. Even if I eavesdropped I wouldn't get anything out of them. They know I'll figure it out" Astoria said to Laura. Laura had recovered, it was a simple poison, but old and rare.

"Hm, well, I suppose that would be the only benefit." Mia said. Alex and Laura were yet to arrive the week after

"I need Daphne to figure out what's going on. She said that she would" Astoria said, worryingly sipping from her cup of hot-chocolate.

"Well, just as a precaution, my parents have placed protection spells around the entire village. We're the only wizards here, so want to keep the muggles safe too. Death eaters tend not to come here, there is hardly any of the magical population in this area, it's so near Scotland

"True. But I can't help worrying that one of you guys are going to be next" Astoria said, taking a bite of the chocolate pudding baked in the oven under the antique stove.

"You should stop worrying for a bit. You need to relax, get a job if you have to" Mia said

"As if I'd work in a muggle supermarket." Astoria said

"You could always babysit?" Mia suggested

"True, but I've got preoccupations." Astoria replied, pointing to her ring finger

"Hey, if we get out of this, we'll sort this out" Mia said reassuringly, but Astoria wasn't that much. She finished the pudding and hot chocolate, promptly starting on one of the dresses she was making for the dolls in the playroom.

* * *

"They've killed Amelia Bones" Mia said, Astoria clapped her hands to her mouth. They hardly ever ate in the summer house anymore in fear, they were all inside in the kitchen, even in summer, it was getting cold. Astoria carefully ate her food, scared that they were poisoned.

"You know Astoria, just enjoy your eggs, hash brown and sausage. You'll throw up if you don't" Mia joked

"Anyone else dead?" Astoria asked

"Nope, just Mundgugus fletcher and his 'inferi'" Mia said

"Okay. it's a grim mood out here." Astoria said, as she looked at the cold sunshine outside. They finished eating and walked out of the house, wands at the ready up their sleeves, scared that there would be something there.

"Isn't that Aphrodite?" Mia asked, as the owl swooped towards them, her shiny black/brown feathers in the sun

"Not in front of muggles Aphrodite" Astoria reprimanded. She detached the letter and let her fly off.

"What is it?" Mia asked as they sat in a café, reading the letter

"It says:"

_Dear Tori_

_You should be worried, You-Know-Who's planning something. I can tell. Mother and father are trying to induce me to join. _He_ thinks that I'm too young… and a female. I don't want to join either, I'm on the light side. Anyway, I found the poison stocks and sent them to St Mungo's for checking out. They'll be able to fight against them now. I've been trying to get out notes on your impending marriage. If the light side wins, any impending arranged marriage is seen as null and void. You'll be free. Just have hope for our side, okay, you'll get out of the wedding_

_Daphne Venus Greengrass_

"Well, have hope then" Mia said

"Oh my god, I have a chance of not getting stuck with Malfoy." Astoria said surprised.

"Yep. Oh, Scrimegour's minister now, he'll enforce that should he survive this war."

* * *

Malfoy's POV

"Draco. Come here" Narcissa said. Draco had been thinking, if he was going to Marry Astoria, he'd change for her, no denying that

"Yes Mother" Draco said clipped

"You are to be a death eater, as your father and Lord commands. Be ready" she said, but her gaze told her she didn't want him to be a death eater either. The Dark Lord entered the manor and he, Draco, kneeled before him.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy." Voldemort said, looking at his face

"Yes, my Lord" Draco said

"It has been an age since I saw you last, a _mewling_ babe." Voldemort said with disgust. Draco had to suppress the urge to laugh. Voldemort taking a picture with a baby him, in his arms. That was odd. "And now you are nearly a man. Therefore you are to take the vow. I ask all of you to leave" he addressed the surrounding death eaters, they left, leaving Bellatrix and Narcissa.

"Draco Malfoy, you are hereby a death eater." Voldemort said. There was no vow, just a yes/or die. "Mosmordre" it was Barty Crouch Jr making the dark mark all over again. His arm was now branded with the dark mark. Voldemort spoke of his quest. To kill Dumbledore, before leaving. Draco moved to his room and began to despair. Was the world always against him? How was he supposed to change now. He was in the bath, trying to scrub the mark off. But it was stuck, he was now forever part of the losing side.

* * *

Part 2: Train ride

The holidays were uninteresting, mainly just finishing homework and worry. All they did for Mia and Alex's birthdays was just shopping for a few new clothes and they bought a cake. Sitting on the train, Astoria stared out of the window, worrying about what was going to happen

"Well, the day I left, Daphne came, mind you it was about 11:00 at night. She used a sleeping draught to keep you parents asleep for a couple of hours so that she could drop off all the poisons" Laura explained

"Well, I really hope no one gets poisoned now." Astoria said

"Anything from the trolley dears?" the trolley lady asked

"I'll have 4 pumpkin soups, a pack of cauldron cakes and a pack of pumpkin pasties" Astoria counted off

"And we'll have a few chocolate frogs, a box of beans and a couple of liquorice wands" Alex said

"Here dears" the lady handed over their orders as they ate their lunch

"Excuse me" a little first year entered the compartment "Do you know where the toilet is?" that was a really stupid question

"Sure, it's down the corridor, near the Ravenclaws senior compartments" Laura offered. The little girl left and walked away

"What house do you think she'll end up in?" Laura asked

"Ravenclaw. That's Natalia Stalinksy's little sister" Astoria said, remembering the girl at the ball

"Oh. No wonder she dresses like a slut, she's only 12" Alex said

"I wonder how she took the refusal?" Mia asked Astoria, the topic was on her wedding, again

"Not very well according to Daphne, she was shouting at Draco in the private gardens, And Daph was about to shag Zabini in a room half a mile away" Astoria said

"Has your sister…" Alex asked to annoy her

"She's giving me _tips_ on how to do it. She's got a mental issue" Astoria said "She knows I won't be able to hold blackmail against her though, I can't tell my parents that"

"Well, _now_ we know perfect Daphne isn't so perfect" Mia laughed, eating her still piping hot pasties, dipping it into the gravy they came with.

"Yes, look, is that" Astoria poked her head out of the window, some kid was coming down the corridor, Malfoy wasn't anywhere to be seen, but the kid was being held by Natalia Stalinsky

"Oi. Greengrass, get here now" she said, so unlike her pretty self. She was in a really slutty outfit, Astoria had no idea in how she got into Ravenclaw

"What do you want Stalinsky?" Astoria moved out bored

"Why are you getting married to Malfoy?" she asked fiercely

"I don't know, I don't want to" Astoria said simply, she sent a nasty hex at Natalia and disappeared back into her compartment

"What did you do to her?" Laura asked

"Sent her a nasty burning jinx to her lips. She won't be able to be a whore for a while." Astoria said grimly

"I shudder to think what she does" Mia said profusely as they all sat in the compartment changing clothes.

* * *

Part 3 Potions with Slughorn

"Oh, hello" Slughorn's belly proceeded him "Now, welcome to Potions, you have your books, yes" they all nodded "I want you to brew a simple draught. Turn to page 166, you have an hour and a bit to brew the Colour-change draught. Off you go" he dismissed them. Astoria and Alex were together. Alex was the master of brewing between the four of them, according to Astoria's parents there was a slug club back in the day and she cringed with fear if she was to join.

"Okay, we take the cochineal beetles and pound them into a fine powder, heat the cauldron to 100 degrees Celcius and add a vial of Lethe River water with a dash of belladonna." Astoria read. Alex's light handedness made the process simpler, as Astoria quickly ground up her beetles

"Now we have to stir them all together, 7 turns counter-clockwise and wave your wand after the 7th stir, repeat process twice." Alex read. "7 stirs, wand. 7 stirs wand" she did the steps and looked on the page

"Okay, add a hint of mint leaves, a drizzle of refined mermaid tears." Astoria put in a bit of mint leaves, spreading the virtually non-existent tears around the cauldron

"Now we have to lower the temperature and come back in 10 minutes" Astoria set the timer to ring. She and Alex quickly began preparing for the next stage

"Mulberry leaves and berries, mistletoe leaves and berries, a splash of Saharan mineral water, crush into fine paste" Alex did that with Astoria doing the next step "Slice unicorn horn into fine slivers and crush into a powder with essence of rue" as soon as they had finished with the powders and pastes, adding them using the required pipette, they had only need of brewing it on high, so that everything thinned into a liquid that was fractionally thinner than water. At the end of the hour. Slughorn came around. She and Alex had checked on Mia and Laura who had done very well.

"Miss Smith and Miss Harrison" Slughorn inspected their draught and tested it on a lily-white feather. The feather instantly changed from several different colours, reverting back to the white. "You two see me after. Miss Greengrass and Miss Francisco. Tell me miss Francisco, are you related to Diana Luiz-Francisco and Juan Francisco?"

"Yes sir, they're my dad's grandparents" Alex said. According to Alex, they were famous Wizard actors in the very first films and even plays. That contributed to the deep vault in Gringotts

"Oho. Well, let's try that potion you two have made" he dropped some of the light draught using a pipette, on the new feather and it continuously changed, turning lily white and if not, whiter than before. "You two, see me after class as well." Everyone is dismissed, clean up your cauldrons"

He told them to wait outside as he tidied a bit, after he deemed himself done, he made them enter

"Now, I have a little group, we have dinners every so often. Now, there I two main groups, one for 5th years and older, then one for people your age. I think you should come. Saturday this week. Now off to class before professor Snape beheads me"

They all walked to their old room and sat down. Stuff Snape.

"Now, turn to page 394" Snape said, as bat like as ever. "Read on the effects of the unforgivable curses. Now" Astoria hurriedly read. This textbook was really graphic, it was the stuff of nightmares. At least he wasn't like Moody, who put on the actual curses. At half time, they practised shield charms and Astoria was surprised that she and Alex were the only ones who knew the incantation , other than Mia and Laura.

"Miss Greengrass, deflect this spell" he sent a silent curse at her

"Protego" Astoria blocked it

"Now, once we all get over Miss Greengrass' selfish pride, continue to the reading"

Astoria genuinely hated him now

* * *

Part 4: Dinner Party

Astoria and the others got dressed in their different dresses, though Alex went in her usual jeans, jacket and shirt. They all moved down to his office, it was quite odd to be there.

"Miss Greengrass, tell me, how is your father, he was rather talented in potions as I remember." Laura blanched and Astoria replied "I believe he tried poisoning my friend"

"No need to be so feisty" he chuckled "Miss Francisco, how are your parents in the muggle world?"

"My mother designs high-end fashion clothes, my dad's a technician at a muggle computer company. He's the team manager in the thing"

"Oho, well, it does quite befuddle me. Mr Stone. How is your life in the parliamentary broom cupboard" Michael Stone was born into a group of Hufflepuff politicians

"Oh, it's quite interesting. I was well acquainted with Scrimegour before he was Minister, and my godfather is actually Kingsley himself" he said proudly. Slughorn turned to the Montgomery twins and interrogated them, before he reached Mia and Laura

"Miss Smith, do tell me, is Leadworth in good condition. I have never been near that area"

"It's nice and warm in summer, and it's really cosy in winter. We have an underground cellar that you can see through a glass floor in one of the winter sitting rooms." Astoria sat there, making a mental note to check that room out, that was the thing that they were building in summer.

"I must have a bottle. Now, Miss Harrison, what is Australia like, I've never been out of Europe, save my expedition to Egypt."

"It's really hot in summer, then really cold in winter. Though, you get used to it. You lose that Eucalypt smell in England, indeed, miss it"

"Now your parents work in the Australian ministry, do they not?"

"Yep, department of Animal regulation. It's like magical creatures here."

Astoria merely played with her mash and vegetables, before devouring the scoops of ice cream, eventually they all left the room, glad of the escape. Sitting back in the dorm, they took a packet of crisps out of Astoria's trunk, eating them

"I don't want to go to any dinners." Astoria said "Moment he finds out I'm getting married, he'll go raving on and wanting to walk me down the aisle"

"Or, he'd offer the worst possible marital advice and scream at all future slug club members : 'I SET THEM UP'" Alex laughed, Astoria sent a pillow flying in Alex's face.

* * *

Part 5: Lurking in corners

Astoria hardly went out of the castle, the weather had turned frightfully gloomy, and she was annoyed that she would be missing out on the Doctor Who: TV Movie. But Burbage had promised to tape it the muggle way and watch it next lesson. She had taken it to hiding the in best places possible, walking around carrying at least one book. It seemed that her tutoring with Hermione was rubbing off on her. Astoria then remembered the best spot possible.

'_I need a place to hide'_ she thought in the 7th floor corridor, the panel opening, she slipped inside, walking past peculiar items. She looked at a beautiful sapphire diadem, perched on an ugly bust. She walked further down, looking at some of the vintage things left there, including a voodoo doll. She kept going and finding a spot near a 3-legged cupboard, she sat down and read in silence.

* * *

_Malfoy's pov_

He walked along the corridor, eyeing his dumb cronies, he entered the room, looking for the cupboard, it was unnaturally quiet, but occupied. He looked down, finding a muggle book.

"Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient express" he muttered to himself smirking, Astoria read that. It was odd, it was exactly her book, he thumbed to the 9th page, definitely her book, that small rip he made when he prised it off her

* * *

Astoria looked for Murder of the Orient express that was supposed to be beside her. She pulled out her wand

"Malfoy" Astoria said sharply

"Greengrass" he dropped the book. Astoria hurried to pick it up, but Malfoy got it first. He handed it to her, and she took it violently back

"You sir, should've announced yourself" she kept her wand in his face

"I was about to" he said evasively

"Truly?" Astoria asked sceptically "What are you doing here?" she asked coldly

"I was about to ask you the same question" Astoria prodded her wand into his face, maximum impact ready "I heard about your brush with Stalinsky on the train" he said impressed "Nice stinging hex"

"I could perform it on you" she said dangerously "I know you're doing something" she said

"I can't tell you" Astoria knew he was being genuine, he looked on the verge of tears. She left him and walked away. Out of the room of requirement

"Tori?" Alex asked as she came out of the corridor "You have mail" she said grimly

"You've read it?" Astoria asked. She let Alex read her mail, as Alex took shock better

"Yeah."

"Pass it." Astoria read the scroll aloud

_Daughter,_

_You are to go to the Malfoy manor on Christmas day. Do not go and you will be punished as your _dear_ friend was. The Dark Lord will be there and you are not to take the vow, as you are not what he wishes. That dinner will mark your formal engagement into the Malfoy family._

_-Celeste Greengrass_

"Some mother, doesn't even sign as mum" Alex chided

"Nice to know she wants to rub it in. I mean, she's not even _fully_ a pureblood. She's distantly squib" Astoria said darkly

"Now, you can tell that to Voldemort when you have your little dinner party" Alex said cheekily

* * *

Part 5: Slughorn's Christmas Party

It wasn't _really_ Christmas. It was the week before. Astoria looked in the mirror.

"Darling, you look great" Laura said. It was known that Alex and Laura were the best at extreme makeovers. Laura's mum being a high-end chick, who bought Alex's mum's fashion brand.

"You think so?" Astoria looked at herself in a cream/champagne coloured dress, draped over with classing black lace. Her hair was straight out, with diamond pins holding a strand or two up. Her black flats on her feet, legs covered with sheer black tights.

"No date? Loner much?" Mia said walking in

"Not complaining." Astoria said. "Besides, we're a group"

"I hate this DRESS" Alex said. Pulling on the hem of her purple dress. But it was made to suit her tastes with her leather fingerless gloves and her black converse.

"Really Alex, really?" Laura asked. Laura was in a simple black 20's style dress with black pumps. Mia on the other hand was in a white, floaty, floral dress, her hair in a messy braid. They made their way to Slughorn's office that was magically bigger on the inside. It was lavishly furnished with several celebrities and politicians in the mix of students.

"Belby? Why are you serving those?" Astoria asked as she looked at the platter of dragon tartar

"Slughorn put it on the menu" he said grimly as he walked along to more people.

"Luna!" Astoria said, "nice to see you"

"Oh, you were late" she said, well, she was late. They had come back late for a lesson and everything else got delayed as Alex threw a fit, trying to get into her dress.

"I know. Nice to know you're going with Harry" Astoria said nicely, Luna _was_ nice, vague Lettice in Murder at the Vicarage

"Harry's nice too" she said as if sensing her thoughts.

"Well, Luna, I'm going to get a slice of cake. I'll see you around" Astoria said nicely before moving around, looking for that guy with the cake…

"This boy was attempting to gatecrash!" Filch walked in with a guilt Malfoy, who claimed to be invited. He was taken out by Snape. She walked after them, wandering what was happening.

"I swore to protect you…" she heard from Snape "Lord and Master…." She heard more. But she was stopped as she heard someone coming, and she fled from the scene in silence

"Where were you?" Laura asked, Mia and Alex coming to her

"I think I know what Malfoy is up to" she said as they enjoyed the rest of the party

* * *

Okay, now PLEASE REVIEW, FOR EVERY REVIEW, YOU GET AN IMAGINARY COOKIE, ANONS ARE WELCOME TOO. Once again, really sorry for posting the worng chapter up. I've got the same amount of chapters for both stories, and my little brother decided to go on my computer... damn him


	13. 1996 Part 2

A/N: Hello, sorry, that i uploaded the wrong chapter a couple of weeks ago (last chapter) EPIC FAIL LOL MOMENT. Anyway, this is chapter 13. This part of the story is nearly over, after the war, there will be a sequel if demand is enough.

Disclaimer: No own. soz bro

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 13: 1996 Part 2

Part 1: Christmas at the Manor

It was as dull and gloomy as ever, as she walked into the dark halls of Malfoy Manor

"Astoria, please, sit down" Astoria wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but Malfoy actually looked up when his mother said his name

"Mrs Malfoy, a pleasure as always" she said, sitting in the hard-straight backed seat "I see that Mr Malfoy is indisposed" she said coldly

"Now dear, would you like the soup, or the roast?" Mrs Malfoy asked. Astoria chose the soup, even though it was delicious and warm, it felt cold as the gloominess of the empty manor closed around her. Draco seemed to be constantly observing her. Maybe it was her décolletage, or her pendant, she wasn't sure. After the _short_ dinner, she was forced into the sitting room, a large Christmas tree, looking out of place amongst the dark furniture. She was given a purple box by Draco who promptly left the room. Narcissa still sat there with her

"I apologise about Draco, he's been preoccupied" she said

"Well" Astoria began, ripping open the wrappings of the box, revealing a single, beautiful ruby, situated in the Gryffindor crest. "Wow" she said, stunned

"Draco picked it out" Narcissa said proudly

"This is his gift" Astoria brought out a green and silver box. Narcissa put it under the tree and looked back up at her. "Does he like me, Draco?" Astoria asked out of curiosity

"He does, you wouldn't believe how much" Narcissa said in truth "To be honest, he just doesn't show his emotions to any girl, not even me. You, seem to be why he is now showing them"

* * *

Malfoy's POV

She _was_ cute when she ate. Dainty little bites and what not. He couldn't face himself to see her be disappointed with his choice of gifts. Was he going to have to _stalk_ her to find out what she liked. Though, on the other hand, her friend, that semi-mudblood may know what to do. Taking out a quill, he quickly wrote her a note

_Hello Miss Francisco_

_What does Astoria like? I can't find her a suitable Christmas/birthday present. Also, does she like chocolate? I want to send her some on Valentine's day/Easter, seeing as she's getting married to me and all. If you help me, I will pay you as much galleons as you want_

_Draco Malfoy_

He must've been getting desperate, he was resorting to money to get this chick to help him out.

* * *

Astoria thought that Narcissa wasn't all that bad. On the dark side, but she wasn't all that evil. If anything, she had literally wheedled out a life story. Making note that she now had future blackmail, she left the house, wearing the necklace Draco had picked out for her.

* * *

Part 2: More Lessons

"Alex, who are you writing to? Your secret boyfriend?" Astoria joked as they sat in the common room

"No, I'm replying to a desperate plea and keeping notes for blackmail" she replied. Alex had decided to play with the quill as she sent the note with Artemis. "Have you finished potions yet?" Alex asked

"He doesn't ask for any of our essays just because we're in the slug club. It's like, I just won't bother" Laura replied

"I take that as you have" Mia said, writing more on the polyjuice potion "I would really like to try this out" she said, reading up the excerpt in the text book

"It's tastes like goblin piss" Astoria said

"How do you know?" Alex asked, genuinely piqued

"Daphne and I switched places when we were about 9. I didn't want to go the healer, she did. It only took about a couple of hours, and we smuggled some of my dad's stock" she said.

"Well then, you can give us explicit details on how the transformation occurs and it's side effects" Laura said, waiting for Astoria's response

* * *

Malfoy's POV

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarling" Pansy called out to Draco "You have mail"

"Whatever" he said, slitting it open. He read the letter to himself

_Malfoy,_

_Okay, Astoria does like chocolate. No seriously, she likes chocolate. She hates cliché love things. So say goodbye to heart-shaped boxes. Hm, money, okay, if you write to me every week, you have to enclose a payment of 2 Galleons and let me keep the letter for future black mail. Should that ever happen. Oh, and she likes the pendant you gave her. Just don't include your name on it _

_Alex._

He breathed easily. He had won over one of her friends. Getting her to like him was going to be a tad easier. But what if she found out? What if she found out what she was supposed to do? What if she linked the Bell situation with him?

* * *

Part 2: Sunshine

Astoria was sitting right at the great lake, on the board walk. It was early spring and the flowers were beginning to bloom. Laura sat on the boardwalk with her, feet dangling in. Alex was wearing a skirt for once, but it was teamed with coloured tights, a denim jacket and her Gryffindor tee. Alex had been acting really oddly ever since start of the term, writing to some unknown person.

"Alex, who the hell are you writing to?" Astoria was getting pissed about this.

"You honestly don't want to know" she said. Alex attached the scroll to Artemis and she flew off in the direction of the Quidditch pitch.

* * *

_Malfoy's_ POV

He saw the familiar tawny owl fly towards him

"Hello Artemis, what Francisco got today?" the owl flew off after the scroll was taken off her leg.

_Malfoy,_

_She's getting a leetle bit suspicious. Yeah, as far as she knows, apparently I'm writing to my so called 'secret admirer' though, I beg to differ. So, you wanted to know her favourite colour? How thick can you get. It's not like your already planning the wedding bonbonniere. It's royal purple, then royal blue, then red. And if she had a choice between Butterbeer and Firewhiskey, she'd do Firewhiskey, if she was old enough. Are you sure this is still for her best interests and not for you to get obsessed with her? She hates guys who are obsessed with her._

_-Alexandra_

Was he getting obsessed with her? He shouldn't be anyway. He had at least 10 pages worth of notes on Astoria, her favourite shows, colours, chocolate, dresses, under wear type. It was worth the 2 Galleons he was paying Francisco, after all, he even got her to check what sort of shampoo she uses, how much and how she brushes her hair? Comb or brush. He must be really creeping Francisco out.

* * *

"Alex" Laura asked "Is that?" she pointed to a little girl holding a violet scroll

"Another bloody dinner party" She said "God. He hasn't found out yet, has he?"

"Nope, we all stray away from that topic" Astoria said "This war better be bloody over soon."

"Excuse me, Professor Slughorn told me to give you this" the little girl said.

"Thanks Pippa" Laura said. Pippa walked away and Mia gave her a questioning glance

"I know her sister Kate." Laura said "They throw wicked parties"

"Well" Astoria read the note "There's another one soon. They're inviting Gwendolyn Jones" She pointed that at Laura. Jones was Laura's sporting hero.

"I'm going." Laura said "You _have_ to go" she begged

"Fine" Astoria said "We'll go, but if any word gets out"

"Yes, we know, you'll Avada us" Alex finished

* * *

Astoria sat in the overly warm dormitory, at night. Hermione was helping her, before she suddenly burst into tears.

"Hermione? You alright?" Astoria asked, pulling her scroll away from Hermione's falling tears.

"It's Ron, he's been poisoned." Astoria had heard rumours about that

"He was with Slughorn right?" Hermione nodded "Slughorn wouldn't want to poison a student, though, the poison could be meant for someone else. But, well… it may have been an accident. Though, I find this really suspicious" Astoria said "Who'd want to bump off Gryffindors, well… apart from"

"Malfoy" they said in unison.

"But, he's been oddly quiet lately" Hermione said

"Try saying that about your future husband" Astoria retorted "Anyway, I am thoroughly suspicious of what's happening" she said tartly

"Well, hopefully you'll get out of the wedding" Hermione said, but a thud from the stairs made them walk towards the stairs

"Woah. Alex, are you okay?" Hermione asked

"I'm fine. I just sent off Artemis with a letter

"To another person? Just who are you writing to?"

"My mum" she said very convincingly

"Really?" Astoria said, as Alex walked back up the stairs.

* * *

Malfoy's POV

He got it, it was written pretty quickly and the ink was only semi-dry

"Draaaaaaaco" Pansy said "Who are you getting all your mail from"

"My Father and the Dark Lord. The letters burn after being read" he said. It was plausible, but he transferred the notes into his book, before burning them at night.

"Oh" she said shortly, before she hoisted up her panties from her short skirt.

Draco read the note

_Malfoy._

_Why are you so insistent to find out her perfume, what do you want me to do. SNIFF HER? Anyway, she uses vintage floral scents. Draco, I think you're getting a little bit carried away. What are you using this information for? I think it's time you, ehem, swept her off her feet._

_I don't want to jinx, Good Luck. So I just won't bother_

_Alex._

He _was_ getting carried away. Maybe it was time he sent her a box of chocolates.

* * *

"So what did you get Ron?" Astoria asked Hermione

"I got him a few Quidditch things" she said, still slightly sniffily

"I'm sure he loves it"

"But he's going out with that cow." She meant Lavender

"Put it this way, you're smarter, hotter and the only one who can get on his nerves" Astoria said.

"Really?" Hermione said "I think I'll go to bed"

"You should, you need to relax." Astoria said soothingly. They both moved up to their dorms. Astoria finding Laura French plaiting Alex's hair.

"What's that?" Astoria asked, pointing to a parcel to her

"Dunno, we actually _haven't_ opened it." Mia said, feet in the air

"Okay" Astoria said unsurely, she unwrapped the wrappings. "Wow."

"What is it?" Alex asked

"It's a whole lot of chocolate" Astoria said, pulling out her favourite Butterbeer-filled chocolate.

"Well, who's it from?" Laura asked "No, Malfoy isn't it"

"Yeah" Astoria said wonderingly, wondering how Malfoy could possibly know that.

* * *

Part 3: Darker Turns

Astoria was in detention. Obviously, _correcting_ Snape wasn't the best idea when he was in a pissed mood. Her detention was with Hagrid, though, Hagrid was _fun_. Instead of detention, they were actually having tea while bandaging browtruckles.

"What's that light" Astoria said as she looked out the window

"Mus' be summat the seniors are doing" Hagrid said easily

"No, _that_ is not the sound of procrastinating 7th Years" Astoria said

"INCENDIO!" a female voice screeched

"NO!" Astoria literally shouted, the house began to heat up, a glow coming from the side of the stone walls. Astoria exited, feeling her coin glow, Hermione had set the date and place. But it was too late, there were already death eaters.

"Rowle" Astoria said softly "Bellatrix"

"Ooh, itty, bitty, baby Greengrass" Bellatrix said, cackling. Astoria ran and hid behind the house.

"HAGRID, GET OUT!" Astoria said

"I Can't do tha' Astoria. I have to ge' Fang" Hagrid carried Fang out the window, Astoria catching Fang. Hagrid walked out the front door, and hit by several curses. But he was half-giant, his blood made it harder to curse him.

"Stupefy" Astoria whispered, hitting Rowle

"NO GREENGRASS! COME AND GET ME, ONE WAY, OR ANOTHER I'M GONNA GET YOU. I'M GONNA GET YOU, GET YOU, GET YOU, GET YOU!" Bellatrix said in a sing-song voice

"Isn't that from some Muggle song?" Astoria asked

"I DON'T DARE DEFILE MY MOUTH WITH THAT FILTH." Bellatrix said defensively. Astoria looked up, her eyes reflecting the large, green snake.

"The Dark Mark" the said to herself "Who did you kill!. I SAID WHO THE FUCK DID YOU KILL!" Astoria sent a curse at Bellatrix, but she deflected every single one

"DUMBLEDORE!" Bellatrix cackled, before apparating out. Her eyes traced two figured running in the Dark. Astoria chased them at break neck speed, into the forrest, before the two figures stopped. Crashing right into a guy with platinum-blonde hair

"Astoria?!" Draco said surprised, Helping her up "Are you alright"

"Yeah, I'm fine" Then Astoria snapped out of the trance. Why was he deliberately hot? "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!" Astoria drew her wand, pointing it at his face

"You don't need to know" He said despairingly, the look in his eyes made Astoria want to cry too

"Just TELL me" Astoria said, Draco went up to her and hugged her. She stood there in shock and fear.

"They wanted me to kill Dumbledore. I couldn't. But Snape did." Draco said, whispering in her ear. He walked away from her a bit "Dumbledore said he could help me, I was about to lower my wand. They walked in and killed him" He said gravely, tears flowing down his cheeks. His normally sleeked back hair was loose and free. "Please, don't tell them." Draco said, before going up to her and kissing her. Astoria stood there initially in shock, before enjoying it. However, Snape came back and cleared his throat. Astoria blanked out, Staring at Snape, who was pretty close to them, looked at them with that lost, misty look. Before dragging Draco away. Astoria began to cry, but she remembered the dark mark and she ran back to the castle. Finding people gathering around the foot of the Astronomy tower. She cried harder. It was true, Dumbledore died, she moved to the front of the pack, looking on in despair. They were going to lose the war.

* * *

Part 4: Final days

Astoria was sitting in her row with Laura to her left, Alex to her right and Mia at the end of the row, next to Laura. They were dressed in their formal dress robes, but in black. Astoria's black, satin dress was under her black trench coat. Her white flats on her feet. She tried to stay awake during the funeral, but she was unable, her mind still weighed heavily on what Draco had said and done. He _tried_ to change and wanted to not do it. But he couldn't change it. Knowing the dark lord, he'd threatened him. The shower of arrows from centaurs fell short and the mermaids left the lark, diving underwater. Astoria looked around the crowd. Hermione with Ron, Ginny with Harry, Neville with Luna. She was the only loner in the crowd.

"It's over" Astoria said disparagingly

"It's not" Alex said firmly, as they walked towards Mia's parents, who were waiting to take them to Leadworth.

"It's time to go" Mrs Smith said, as they walked into Mia's 4-wheel drive and driving away from what used to be the happiest place to be. If anything, things had turned into night.

* * *

A/N: If you like the letters Draco sent Alex and back. Please send me a couple of prompts. I would like to start a ficlet based on all the letters Draco seems to be bombarding Alex with. Sorry if i can't write a song right. I'm a high-school student not that far up the age ladder.

Anyway, reviews would be dearly appreciated and Thanks to Rainbowsprings for always reviewing :)


	14. 1997 Part 1

A/N: Sorry for the late update, studying for an english essay, so i was occupied.

Disclaimer: No own

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 14: 1997 part 1

Part 1: The Night had Begun

Astoria paced in her guest room. Alex was her main worry, how was she supposed to hide Alex, there were inquiries, and Alex was likely to be killed. Even though Alex's grandparents were wizards/squibs, she was still under investigation. Alex was at the ministry as she thought, and the things were getting to her. She saw the raven of Mr Smith float in the window

"She's safe Astoria, don't worry. She'll probably be monitored though" he said in almost a whisper before flying out the window to dissipate. She heard the crack and she ran down one of the secret passages to reach the stone cellar.

"Alex" Astoria ran to hug her

"Tori, chill, it's not that bad. I had _substantial_ evidence" Alex said, hugging Laura and Mia.

"At least they aren't going to kill you" Mia said. Astoria looked up from the cellar, looking through the glass floor, to the floor above. The sapphire sky was streaked with black jet-lines, like apparition trial that death-eaters made.

"We need to hide muggles if Death eaters ever come in" Mia said "Dad, what are we going to do" Mia said urgently

"They can hide. We're the only wizarding family for miles" he said gravely. Astoria was shocked to see how much Mr Smith had aged within the space of 4 years. His hair was greying even more, he looked more worn out, his brown eyes looked too old from him. Mrs Smith, if ever, looked tired, weird for her cheery disposition. "We've had Kingsley put up as many protection spells as he can."

"Okay" Mia said, running up the stairs as the impatient call of her owl; Athena, sounded.

"Look, Hogwarts" Astoria pointed to the brown, school owl, when the letters were removed, it flew away. Athena was very annoyed when it came to school owls, Athena was a very anti-social owl, except for Artemis, Aphrodite and Megara. "NO" Astoria said shortly

"What?" Alex moved over "Oh, wow" Alex said, Astoria looked at the ruby-red badge sitting in her hand. "Prefect. Well done Tori" Alex said

"At least it's you, not that goody-two shoes in the other dorm, you know. Marissa Edgecombe*" Mia said, Astoria knew that Mia and Laura _specifically_ told McGonagall not to make them prefects. Mia wasn't a meeting sort of person, and Laura wasn't sure if she'd be back for their 5th year, given the current circumstances. Alex already knew she wouldn't be picked as she was in detention every now and then.

"Oh yeah. Seeing as her sister Marietta betrayed us" Astoria said darkly. "Anyway, wondering who the other prefects are" Astoria said "There's that Collins bloke from Hufflepuff, he'll probably get in. There's Ella from Ravenclaw, she'll probably get in. Don't know about the Slytherins though."

* * *

Part 2: Prefect's Carriage

"Oh, it's you" Astoria said, her male counterpart was Justin Worthington

"Hello Astoria" Justin was a goody-two-shoes, but he was nice. His sand hair was carelessly wavy, and it suited him. His blue eyes seemed to startle everyone

"Oh, hi Michael" Michael Collins was the Hufflepuff prefect with Leslie Parker

"Hey" Leslie said. Astoria sat, waiting for the next prefects to arrive, to her distaste, it was the Slytherins

"Greengrass" Abella Travers said. Astoria knew Abella by sight, the daughter of a death eater.

"Travers" Astoria said curtly, she and he boy sat as far away as they could from the other prefects.

"Ella Noble, nice to see you again" Astoria looked up to see a mop of curly, red hair, with the load of freckles.

"Nice to see you too, Astoria" Ella said "You would not believe, the guy I was supposed to be with, was pulled out and sent to Beauxbatons. So I'm on my own"

"No kidding, a lot of people are doing that." Justin said.

"Ladies, Gentlemen." McGonagall entered "It is my pleasure to congratulate you as prefects. Your headmaster is Professor Snape" McGonagall mouth pursed "And the deputies are the Carrows" Astoria's knuckles whitened as she griped the edge of the window sill tightly. "It is time you went back to your compartments" they all left and Astoria sprinted back to her compartment, where Alex, Laura and Mia all sat.

"Well?" Alex was eating some pasties, placing some of them on the table next to the window

"Snape's head and Carrows are deputies" Astoria said grimly

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Alex said loudly, enough for the people next door to hear.

"You're fucking kidding" Laura said. Laura was the goody-two shoes in the group, she hardly ever swore, this was one of these occasions.

"Nope, McGonagall's demoted to just Transfiguration" Astoria said, as she pulled out her robes from her trunk, to see if she had a spare galleon floating about.

"What's that" Mia said suddenly, she heard screams and the sound of doors being ripped apart, the thuds got louder, reaching them.

"Who are you?" Astoria said coolly, wand drawn

"Potter and his accomplices aren't here" the death eater said, before slamming the door shut again.

"What was that about?" Laura asked

"It Means, DA is probably going to be back on" Astoria said weakly, locating her old DA galleon.

* * *

Part 3: Under a corrupt Government

"Muggle Studies, more like muggle torture" Laura muttered, as they all sat in the dormitory

"There's not even any preparation for Christmas, not to mention, meetings for Prefects" Astoria said outraged "Snape's probably got a reason, he's either protecting the kids, or he's torturing us"

"Well, if he's protecting us, he's doing a crap job" Alex said "Though, if the Carrows were heads, things would be worse"

"True" Mia said, as she took out her quill "He's not stopping Slug Club meetings, so I suppose that's out only outlet"

"Laura… if I were to tell you they've disbanded Quidditch…." Astoria said

"WHAT, this was _my_ year to try out" she said outraged. Several of the team had graduated, or had been moved, and Laura had been looking forward to trying out for the team

"Yeah, well. Hogsmeade's gone too. It's Umbridge all over again." Astoria said, literally wanting to rip up everything. Alex literally threw all the pillows off the couch in anger. Gaining awkward stares from the kids in the dormitory, Astoria shouted at them all

"YEAH, OUR LIVES HAVE BEEN RUINED. I SUGGEST YOU ALL SHUT UP" Astoria seethed with anger, wanting to snap the necks of all the little first years. They were shorter and ruder than ever, they seemed to own the place, and it took Astoria's best aristocratic gaze to humble them. Which was very rarely used. Astoria decided she wouldn't be able to concentrate this afternoon and walked to the library. It was weird, Hermione wouldn't be able to tutor her anymore, though, she was okay on her own now. Ginny was good, so she could always get help from her. She walked up familiar corridors, turning into the quiet library. There was never really _true_ dead silence in there, but a very quiet hum amongst studying students. Madam Pince was scared that anyone she 'shushed', could be a death eater, so she only told off people when they were being _too_ loud. Astoria read, reviewed, wrote down as many notes as she could. She referred to different books and she felt unsatisfied, either way. It seemed to be that she kept thinking about Malfoy, and not in the usual evil way she enjoyed, more of in a worrying, loving way. She just shivered at that thought. She hadn't seen Malfoy all term, he was hardly there.

"Hello Astoria" Neville said quietly

"Oh, Neville. What is it?"

"Do you and your friend Alex still carry your coins?" he asked, as if it was a casual question

"Yeah? Oh." She cottoned on. DA was coming back

"Bring along your other dorm mates, I think they'll join this time. Meet us on" he wrote down on a piece of paper, making sure that no-one saw him "I'm only bringing the people who were _loyal_. I've figured, well, Ginny's managed a protean, so we'll try and do the coins"

"Like old times?"

"Like old times" Neville confirmed, as he walked as quietly as he could, away from all the Slytherins. So Astoria waited for Saturday, hoping for better as the week went along. She spied Malfoy, he seemed tired, as cute as ever, but tired. He had probably broken up with Parkinson. Daphne had sent a letter. All summer, Astoria was in Leadworth, she didn't know that her parents had sent Daphne to Beauxbatons, leaving Astoria in Hogwarts, it seemed her parents only wanted Daphne safe. Understandable, and much more fun for herself at Hogwarts.

"Okay, just keep quiet." Alex said, as she spied past the corridors "Oh, you lot" it was a couple of 6th and 7th year Ravenclaws from 1995-1996 "Got invited too?"

"Yeah, Luna told us." Michael Corner explained "Coast clear, wands out and run" they all nodded and sprinted for the patch of wall. Thinking of DA HQ, they entered and slammed the door shut.

* * *

Part 4: Dumbledore's Army reinstated

"Hello" Neville was probably nervous, he was reinstating the DA after 3 or so years "So, I think we all know why we're here. We need to keep the Carrows from hurting the other students. A murmur ascended, but Ginny's impersonation of Umbridge silenced them all

"So, we decided to only bring some of you back. Notice, no Edgecombe, no Smith, no other annoying people" Ginny said

"It would be nice to give them a chance" Luna said dreamily, it seemed that Luna, Ginny and Neville were the leaders and the mentors.

"No Luna, Marietta betrayed us, Smith was just such a son of a banshee" Astoria got sniggers from her latest comment "And half the people who tagged along just wanted to be with Harry. I think it's important that the rest of us stay together. Let's see, in Gryffindor we have Lavender, Seamus, Dean and us. Out of Ravenclaw we have Corner and you guys, then ALL of you guys in Hufflepuff stayed, albeit Smith. It proves that only we can trust each other. " Astoria was rallying the trust of everyone there "Oh, and introductions. This is Mia and Laura, dorm mates. I believe, you are new too" Astoria pointed to a group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws "Don't worry, you'll get the gist of it"

"Yeah, she has a point" Ginny said loudly "Now, we all know what's going on with the punishment. I think it's time we set some first years free. Now, anyone know when they tend to tie them up, or _where_ they tend to tie them up?"

"Well" a new student piped up, probably a third year student, from Ravenclaw "I know as a fact that they chain them to a wall that's heavily patrolled on the 6th floor, east wing, tends to be with a lot of candles. I'm not sure of the time though. "

"And you are?" Luna asked nicely

"Melanie, Melanie Hemmsworth"

"Okay, anyone know what time?"

"I think I have a way to find out" Alex said "We'll" she nudged Astoria "Will cause enough trouble to find get chained to a wall, then we'll escape, set people free and find out everything we need all at the same time"

"That's a suicide mission" some Hufflepuff senior said indignantly

"I know, that's why I'm dragging her along" Alex said, nudging Astoria. Astoria had the mad urge to strangle Alex.

* * *

"DETENTION!" screeched Alecto Carrow, her voice sounding like a dying bird. Alecto Carrow would've looked quite pretty with her round, pin-up girl features, if it wasn't for the fact a. she was a death eater b. being a death eater seemed to age someone and c. Saying that Alecto Carrow was pretty right now wasn't the right way to put it. "You too, Greengrass. Tonight, 6th floor at midnight. If you aren't there, the punishment will be, severe"

* * *

"So we've found out that we meet at the 6th floor, midnight precisely. Astoria said." The DA hung out at the room of requirement ever afternoon and sometimes all weekend. The Carrows only entered the Slytherin common room.

"Okay, we'll try to find out if you guys are okay. I've seen the list for all students on detention, and it's a couple of first years. If we cause a distraction and drag them away from the kids, we'll free them and try to free you lot too." Neville said "Any idea on _where_ they put you on detention"

"I've seen chain all around the north-east corridors near transfiguration, then another set near charms. Then a pair of chains near the south end" Seamus said in his usual Irish accent

"That's a bloody suicide attempt" Hannah Abbott said "There is _no_ possible way to get from those three classes unless you take the main path. But that's probably where the patrol will be" she looked at the map they had out and drawn, Seamus circled the walls in question "Though, we could if we split up and cause the ruckus further down this end, by the time they run there, we'll be gone down this way, unless"

"No, there's this way" A Ravenclaw piped up, Michael Corner "If we go through this secret tapestry here, I'm sure we'll have a safe place to hide."

"Okay, that's settled then. We're going to set some kids free. Any ideas to wind up the Carrows more?"

"Well…" Laura had a sudden brainwave, Astoria could tell by the tapping of her hand on her thigh, her nervous habit "If we write things like; Dumbledore's Army, Still recruiting. Or We'll join you when hell freezes over"

"Okay, I like the sound of the first one" Ginny said "Dean, you're the talented one with painting. Can you make it look like it's done in blood."

"I can do better, I can make it change message. AND permanent"

"That'll be good, now there's a Potterwatch on tomorrow, Saturday, we'll all meet here, Okay?" Ginny asked, most people nodded and agreed

"Good Luck" Luna said dreamily.

* * *

Now, please review and check out my laaaaater sequel and prequel to my crossover; contradictory. It's called ironic and it's set with my oc in the next gen.


	15. 1997 Part 2

A/N: Oh My Wizard GOD! I haven't updated in AGES. Sorry, i've been caught up in school assesments, then once we think they've been finished, we get dumped another pile. ALL EFFING DUE WITHIN THE FIRST 3 WEEKS. WTF. Got a side fringe ^.^ now i look like Gwen from Torchwood. So, this is Astoria and Alex being tortured to Christmas. Oh, to all you Sherlockians out there reading this, I've joined the band wagon. Now I've got a collab fic with my friend Glitchmob9, it's a dw/hg crossover called: Who Plays These Games? on her account.

Now, I'll update all mys stories more often as it's the holidays now. I promise, it's becoming more Draco/Tori romance now. So... read and review?

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the hint of Sherlock down there. They purely belong to the amlighty JKR and the awesome ACD

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 15

Astoria was being chained to a wall. Typical. As if the Carrows couldn't hold her there with magic, she was more likely to get out than to stay in.

"Well, here goes nothing" Alex muttered under her breath. Astoria was vaguely curious on who would be torturing them. Slowly unpicking the lock with a pin, then she released her left arm, but unable to release her right hand, when her captor entered the room.

"A-Astoria, what are you doing here?" Malfoy asked nervously, Astoria was shocked to see Malfoy looking like this, skinnier and more tired. He looked as if he had been to the end of the world and back.

"Chained to a wall, what does it look like?" Alex asked sarcastically, trying to blow her side fringe out of the way, her messy bob-cut really suited her.

"Still wearing jeans, Francisco?" Malfoy asked, looking at Alex's black, skinny jeans and black converse

"Yeah. Problem?" Alex asked, taking the pin from Astoria and undoing her right arm. Alex was ambidextrous and spent her time multitasking. There was a point the year before where she was writing a potions essay in her left and a muggle-studies essay with her right.

"Look, if you're going to torture us, you know full well that we can kick your arse any day" Astoria said

"I'm not going to torture you" he said in a hurt, raised voice, looking sadly at the two of them

"Then if you aren't, you and the Carrows may as well kill us" Alex said, slowly undoing her left hand, as quietly as she could. Astoria supposed they could use a wand, but, Malfoy would be watching their every move.

"I'm not a murderer" Malfoy said

"Then, go." Astoria said "Run, if you don't, I'm not scared to jinx you" Astoria's right hand was finally free with an unlocking charm she performed while he was distracted

"Now" Alex ushered as he sped down the corridor, but Alex was too quick and stunned him, knocking him out

"You didn't have to do that" Astoria said exasperated

"He took too long" she said impassively and they both crept around corridors, looking for more students chained up. They passed Dean, who was adding a permanent message on the wall, Susan and Ernie were releasing a first-year tangled in chains. Alex was to stop here, she would be covering for the two Hufflepuffs. Astoria's job was to get to the exit and send a signal, her patronus, the robin.

"Astoria, NOW" Ginny screamed, the alarm had been raised, the Carrows knew now

"Expecto Patronum" Astoria screwed her memory for one thing, a kiss. The blissful oblivion it held. It may not have been happy, it was bittersweet more like. But it was powerful, powerful enough to send her robin flitting through the floating lamps and walls. However, she froze for a heartbeat, then she slowly turned back down the corridor she came, a shriek alerting her.

"No" a strong, female voice said, the fast-paced slight-cockney belonged no-other than to Alexandra Francisco

Astoria hid behind the wall, waiting for the right moment, she would try to save Alex from Alecto Carrow, but the death eater was too big and to skilled.

"I'm not going to leave you alone for all your life" Alex muttered under her breath. Astoria cringed, she couldn't stop, Alex was being torture to near-death. Acting on impulse, she took a deep breath and fired a stunning hex at the death eater.

"Well, you took your time" Alex said weakly, Astoria motioned over for Susan to come and help her take Alex. Alex could barely walk, needless to say, barely stand.

"Neville, we need some potions on Alex, NOW" Susan said, laying Alex on a ready-bed. Neville ran to a little cupboard, taking out a flask of pepper-up potion. Astoria finally got a good view of Alex, large scars on her arm, where the impact was felt strongly

"And, Essence of Dittany. If she dies on me, then by Merlin, I will murder you all in your sleep" Astoria shouted. She was handed a small bottle and she dropped a couple of the scars, then on her cuts. Alex was still very weak, so she was left in a bed near some of the Gryffindors and a couple of senior Ravenclaws who were planning to be healers after Hogwarts.

* * *

Part 2: Holidays

Astoria, Laura, Mia had never stayed or to be honest, met Alex's parents. So it was a scary feeling for Astoria to be entering Alex's house on Baker Street, London.

"Baker street, it sounds awfully familiar. Was there a murder or something here?" Astoria asked

"There's um, what do you call it? Muggle book series, it's a detective thing called Sherlock Holmes and his apartment is on Baker Street" Mrs Francisco said. Alex looked quite like Mrs Francisco in a way, the slightly tanned complexion, the hair and eye shape. But she also looked like her dad, with his nose, eye colour and way of thinking. Fast-paced brain with an equally trained fast-paced mouth.

"Oh, never heard of it" Astoria said dismissively

"Have too. Muggle studies, when we were doing muggle literature" Alex said "How did I end up doing that anyway, I'm a muggle-born?"

"Because you promised to take the same subjects as us" Mia said. They entered the house and looked around. The house was mainly a theme of mahogany and blue, Astoria guessed that Mrs Francisco liked the blue and Mr Francisco liked the mahogany. The entire town-house was rather small, but through the perception of the brain, it seemed rather large.

"Now, I've set out the spare room for you all, it's up stairs, to the right, if you want to put your things down. You can watch a VCD or a Video if you want upstairs" Mrs Francisco said as Alex's dad moved the shopping in. "I have some spinach and ricotta triangles in the oven, so I'll call you down when they're ready" Astoria hauled her suitcase up into the spare room, fitted out with 3 camp beds.

"Sorry, I'm not exactly the heir to a title" Alex said a little bit sadly

"Don't worry, have you seen the window-cleaning and the gardening bill?" Mia said "It's huge"

"Could tell, after all, acres of land and a pretty damn big house in upper-leadworth" Laura said, putting her stuff into the single corner. Astoria cocked her head while looking at Laura, she seemed over the moon lately and claiming to be 'studying' in the library quite often. Her camera was placed to one side while she unpacked her other things.

"C'mon, I want to go my room." Alex said, taking her friends to her room. Astoria looked around and if she had to describe it in one word, it wasn't possible. The room defined Alex, kick ass and tomboyish. It was a black damask wallpaper with the one dark purple pattern. Her white bed was against the purple wall, where her bedside table was crammed with murder-mystery novels. Her window opened up to a small street where similar looking houses sat. Alex's large armoire was situated in one corner where Astoria suspected her collection of converse sneakers resided. Her wall was covered in muggle bands posters. One old-looking one with: The Beetles on it and 4 boys. Then Abba which had 2 men and 2 women, then a more-recent looking one with the legend bearing: SPICE GIRLS, then the names of each 'spice': Ginger (Gerri), Scary (Melanie B), Baby (Emma), Posh (Victoria), Sporty (Mel C). Astoria couldn't fathom what was so 'cool' about these people.

"Ooh. Wish my parents let me do this to my room" Laura said

"Mum only agreed coz it's 'Stylish'" Alex's fingers making air quotations. "So, ready for a girl's night?"

"Yeah, one snag. Christmas eve, I may be forced to attend the balls, but due to the fact You-know-who will be there. I don't think I can" Astoria said brightly

"Oh, wonderful." Alex said "Chocolate anyone?"

* * *

"Draco, you know that Miss Greengrass cannot accompany you to the ball. Furthermore, we are not permitted to attend. Why did you let them go?" Narcissa asked. It was a rare moment between mother and son, where Lucius nor Bellatrix were occupying the room.

"June 5th mother, and she barely wished me a happy birthday." Draco sniffled, very childlike. Narcissa, embraced her son as they sat in the cold library that Lucius never used.

"I always wondered Draco, why did you pick her? The younger, rebellious, beautiful, Intelligent Gryffindor." Narcissa remembered a younger Astoria when she was a child

_"Hello Astoria" Narcissa said kindly. Narcissa shook her head on the inside, this was what she shared with Andromeda, that kindness with children, she never understood how Andie managed to stand up to her parents. Bella was tortured so much and Andromeda resisted just as much._

_"Hello Mrs Malfoy" Astoria said brightly, she was barely four, and she was a pretty child. Her clear-grey eyes matched her dark, ash-grey hair. The girl was dressed in her sister's hand-me-downs "I'm 4 now!"_

_"Are you? Draco's 6 now" Narcissa said. Spotting her son. Draco cocked his head slightly at the girl, and Narcissa could never fathom how he gave her that cupcake_

_"Thank you, Dragon!" Astoria said brightly, hugging him_

_"It's Draco" Narcissa laughed, while correcting._

_"Draco" Astoria apologised, before bounding away to the patch of daisies._

"Because she's all that" Draco said "She had been at Hogwarts for barely a week when she and her friend managed to insult me. She refused to go out with me to the Yule ball and kissed me when I was fleeing with Snape"

"_Professor_ Snape" Narcissa corrected

"I'd say that was mixed signals" Draco retorted dryly, yet sadly "She's prefect now too."

"Draco, sweetheart, I'm sure she loves you too." Narcissa usually enlarged his ego, but being a woman and relating to her son, she was genuine. Astoria Artemis Greengrass could do nothing wrong in her eyes.

* * *

"Just got a note from mother" Astoria said disgusted. "Can't go because I've been named a blood traitor."

"That's wonderful" Mia said dryly "It means you can be killed"

"It's absolutely Brilliant!" Astoria said brightly "I can go around and have as much chances against You-Know-Who as all the other Gryffindors and now my mother can't touch me."

"You're happy about this? Anyway, Laura, truth or dare?" Alex said as they sat on the wooden floor, with red-silken pillows.

"Truth" Laura replied

"What secret are you keeping from us?" Astoria figured Alex had observed this as well.

"Well…" she began shyly "I'vebeengoingoutwithcollincree vey" she blurted all at once, then promptly turning red

"WHAT!?" Laura and Astoria asked

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Alex asked, choking on her water

"I've been going out with Collin Creevey." Laura replied "Astoria. Truth or dare?"

"Truth" Astoria replied boldly

"Do you or do you not truly love Draco Malfoy?"

"I don't know. It's an arranged marriage, I've snogged him and I don't know what else." Astoria said lost. In truth, she had never thought about that question. She supposed she _did_ but to what extent was that?"

* * *

Part 3: Christmas Dinners

"So, this is a Filipino tradition?" Mia asked. Of all of them, Mia was the most inquisitive about other cultures, and was fluent in Japanese.

"Yeah, we stay up all night, pig out then sleep in. Pretty cool" Alex replied, brushing her hair as she pulled on a rarely worn dress. Astoria presumed that Mrs Francisco forced Alex into wearing that through some incentive or threat. "And the food's pretty nice. Then the hot chocolate"

"It's snowing" Astoria said dreamily, not really paying attention, watching the snowflakes fall down daintily, covering the grey street with its white softness. She remembered her first ball where she first truly encountered the boy known-as Draco Malfoy. She told him to die in a hole of troll shit.

"Earth to Astoria." Alex said "Can you _not_ smell the roast?"

"Right" Astoria said as they ran down the steps to a table laden with food and a television set turned on. Astoria had rarely watched television, the rare situations were mainly because of Muggle Studies, but now, Professor Burbage was dead and now it was just a manipulation of the mind.

"Merry Christmas!" Mrs Francisco said in her usual designer suit. Mr Francisco was there too, taking out a crème caramel from the fridge. The house had been rapidly decorated with poinsettias and the tree which was in the corner, had not been noticed until now. Astoria had only just realised the television was in Tagalog, it seemed to be some entertainment show that involved celebrated actors performing live.

"Now, feel free to eat. I'll just be taking photos while you're all here" She said, taking out her camera and taking shots.

"So, Alex, run through on what we're eating." Mia asked

"Well, we've got roast Ham in pineapple and my favourite roast beef. Then there's purple yam pudding. _Ube Halaya_, which is good, so is the ice cream form." Alex said as an after note "Hot chocolate, bread, Filipino crème caramel. _Brazo De Mercedes, _it's like a meringue sponge then filled with custard. There's some vegetables coming out right now. And that's about it I think"

"This should be fun" Astoria said as they spent Christmas eating food and laughing. A light departure for what was up ahead.

* * *

Later that Morning

"Merry Christmas, Draco" Draco's mother said, he rolled over in bed, looking at her. His mother had brought up a small present for him. He looked on in vague curiosity

"Mother, you didn't have to. It's unwise in this current situation" Draco said, he gave his mother her present, that he had wrapped as best he could in some wrapping paper

"It's fine. Now, did you send Astoria her's?"

"Yes mother. I doubt she'll like it. It's Astoria." Draco snorted

"And Astoria knows very well. She's a smart girl, she's chosen the right side from the start." He heard his mother mutter very quietly, barely audible as she left his room. He unwrapped it, finding an elaborate 3-panel picture frame. His mother was sentimental at times, as he looked at the spaced, waiting to be filled.

* * *

"Astoria Artemis Greengrass, wake up!" Alex said, throwing her a pillow to the head. Astoria sat up immediately and sat down where the other three sat down, next to the small Christmas tree in the guest room, next to the fireplace.

"Now, I reckon we should all take turns taking our presents." Laura said "Alphabetically, it's you Alex."

"Okay, hey, nice" Alex said as she looked at the watch Laura gave her "Nice shirt too." As Alex unwrapped her gift from Mia, her last gift was from Astoria, a simple bracelet. "Nice to know it wasn't a study booklet"

"Okay, me" Astoria said, looking at what was 5 presents "I'm guessing, you 3, then Daphne and. Oh Merlin." Astoria opened the one she assumed was from Draco Malfoy, she read the note attached

_Merry Christmas Astoria,_

_Hope you liked it. I realised, your first gift wasn't all that satisfactory. I apologise, it was required. This one is hopefully better. Once again, season's tidings_

_Draco Malfoy_

"Mr badass just got you a Christmas present." Mia giggled. Astoria undid the ribbon that held the velvet box together, finding a beautiful golden necklace inside. The pendant was rather large, like a miniature cage, that at the end, dangled and met. The bounty within was a large ruby.

"I would gladly marry him if it meant I would have necklaces like that" Alex said, for once, transfixed on something 'out-of-her-territory-. The rest of her gifts were books. Each in consecutive canon-order for Poirot. Daphne's gift was last and a lengthy letter attached.

_Tori,_

_I'm sorry I can't write as often, I know how things must be back for you, and I really am sorry. I know you Astoria, you won't go down quietly, please, try not to get into too much trouble. Yes, resist all you want, but, please don't kill yourself. France is interesting. The girls here are fluent in French and English, they help me with French. The spells here are slightly different but, I've found out I'm not the only Hogwartian sent here, a lot of us have been and so we're all helping each other out. Henrí has graduated, he's engaged now. I've sent you something you'll probably like. Hate me for, but like._

_Love, Daphne_

Daphne's gift was enclosed in a large, Haute Couture, cream and gold striped box. Cylindrical in shape and was quite deep. Astoria opened the box to find a floaty, powder blue dress. It reached up to her knees, but not just that. A pair of silken, Louis-heel shoes and some matching jewellery. Astoria felt extremely guilty over her mere collector's doll she sent. She was right, Astoria hated dresses most of the time, but, it was worth it. This dress had probably converted her.

"Wow." Laura said "Well, my presents" Laura unwrapped hers and found some new camera filters from Astoria, Mia and Alex. Then a new camera from her parents. Astoria guessed the last present was from Collin, whom she had to admit, had become badass quite recently.

* * *

"Draco. Draco." Narcissa said as he looked out the window, wondering what his mother could possibly want now "I have news of the girl."

"Mother, her name is Astoria. You know that" He said exasperated. He looked out at the snowflakes falling softly at the statue of Artemis; Goddess of the hunt. It reminded him of Astoria's first Christmas ball, the red dress still stood out in his mind.

"I know, but I'm…" She gave him that pointed look, meaning that there were people in the house. "She sent a gift" And she left without further noticed. Draco noted his mother must be on her toes, death eaters were in the house. He should've joined Dumbledore. He had the chance. And he didn't. But what was the point? Just for one girl? Draco opened the perfectly wrapped brown paper and found a watch, enclosed in a. He sighed. A red, velvet box. It was _Very_ Astoria. He unfurled the scroll and read almost hungrily

_Dear Malfoy_

_Merry Christmas. Hope you are well._

_Astoria._

_Postscript: Like the velvet box? I think red matches your eyes._

He was slowly turning red. Of all times, she was picking _now_ to annoy him. But he was distracted, he heard a whip-crack, not of apparition, but a spell being unleashed. He ran down the stairs quietly and looked on in horror. His aunt and his mother, being tortured by a group of death eaters. He knew his Aunt was tortured into near-insanity. But he looked at her from the mezzanine, above the group of Death eaters, she looked vulnerable, something that never crossed her face while he was around. But he was filling with rage, his mother was being tortured. He fired a small spell at the crowd, causing an eruption of boils amongst the crowd. He ran into his room. How many more people? How many more until this bloody war was over.

* * *

BOMBSHELLS: Laura's going out with Collin. Well, we know how this ends :(  
Yes, this is how Filipino Christmasses work. We stay up all night, pig out and sing karaoke, but i think Karaoke is out of the question with this lot. Hogwarts gets dark, the kids are all forced to grow up in a day.  
Now, little trivia: I got Laura's name from the scissor sister song: Laura. I suggest you all youtube it.  
BTW, on tumblr with the same username, my blog is called: WhoLockPotter  
Now, anyone for hotchocolate?


	16. 1997 Part 3

A/N: Ooh, aren't i efficient, new chapter :) So i'm sorry if part one is confusing with POVs, it's hard with all these in-depth characters. Now It would make more sense if you've read my Bellatrix-sob-story: No one knew, just so you knew what Bellatrix is going through.

Disclaimer: *Trivia test*

Who owns the Harry Potter series?

* i write*

JKRowling, Bloomsburry publishing, Scholastic (American edition), Warner Brothers and British people :( I'm just a wannabe fangirl

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 16:

Part 1: Mothers and their daughters

Narcissa and Bellatrix's POV

Bellatrix watched as Narcissa returned from Draco's room.

"No, I'm afraid I will not retract the engagement. And I have no intention of ever doing so ever." Narcissa said defiantly. Bellatrix stood there in here usual, taunting, aristocratic way. Glaring down upon the death-eaters who dared to taunt the Black Girls. They may have different names, Andromeda may have abandoned them, but they stood their ground. Bellatrix felt that whiplash-of-a-curse, barely being able to fight it. She felt wetness against her cheeks and realised that she was crying. It was that all over again. Her first torture, then the most painful one she had felt at 16. She had lost a daughter that day, and she had no intention of losing a sister like she did before. And she was going to stand her ground against her husband and the death eaters.

"Leave her alone" Narcissa said as regal as ever. But yet, in that worried way, rapt and wanting for it to end. "Draco has no say in who he is to marry and therefore, he cannot decide. No use in calling him."

"That whore has been named a blood traitor and deserves to die." Narcissa felt offended, wanting to brutally murder whoever had said that. She took her wand from her sleeve and let it slide down just a bit. Ready to duel. No one knew that she was ambidextrous, she could easily duel with two wands, if permitted. But she felt that surge of red go up in her cheeks, head held high, she stared down at the death eaters.

"You!" Lucius was forced to watch helplessly and Narcissa's eyes widened. 'No' she thought "Torture them" the order was given. Narcissa bowed her head in acceptance and looked at Lucius' eyes fill with horror. Lucius and Draco. Her boys, ever so similar, refusing to hurt who they loved. Lucius raised his wand and barely being able to perform the spell.

"Crucio" he said clearly, watching in pain as she writhed in pain. Narcissa looked at him, now begging for mercy, but to get it over with. After the first bout, he stopped, she was picked up rather hoarsely by another death eater.

"You know you're disgraced within the Death Eater ranks, you coward of a husband ran away, your coward son failed to kill Dumbledore and look now. There's you. You have a blood traitor sister and blood traitor daughter. Look who's been ruined now. You're a blood traitor Narcissa. Everyone knows that." That voice. It was Celeste Greengrass. Narcissa outraged, stood up and looked defiantly at her soon-to-be-daughter's mother.

"Celeste Greengrass. Look at you. All these years later. Astoria's a good girl. So is Daphne. But Astoria will never be what you and your husband are. She'll be more than that. You call yourself her mother? You haven't seen her since the Christmas party 3 years ago and you know it. You just think you've rid yourself of a pest." Narcissa's voice had dangerously lowered into a growl, one Bellatrix knew very well, the voice she had used against her Father when Andromeda was being disinherited. Bellatrix knew it was going to escalate into a colourful bitch fight. But she wouldn't stop Narcissa for the world. Bellatrix had lost her daughter, Rose, and she wasn't going to just stand there and watch a mother ungratefully rid herself of her daughter. Sure, Astoria was a blood traitor and deserved to die, of course the bitch did, she sides with muggles and such filth. But as a former mother, she didn't abide by this.

"Oh Narcissa." Celeste removed her mask. "You didn't get robes nor marked with the dark mark. What did the Dark Lord mean? You can't be trusted at all. You have no right in the pure blood standings. Your house of Black has been blood traitors in your generation. Look who your family produced. That Whore who married that fucking Hufflepuff. Sirius Black who was best friends with Potter and you. The one who sides with that girl." But she was interrupted by a curse Narcissa sent flying, for good, as green light reverberated off the polished floors.

"BITCH!" Narcissa screamed, Lucius and Several death eaters looked on in fear as they had never seen, quiet and composed Narcissa lose control like this. Lucius could see how she and Bellatrix were sisters, once angered, nothing was going to stop them. "THAT GIRL IS YOUR OWN DAUGHTER. THAT WHORE IS MY GODAMN SISTER AND SIRUIS BLACK DESPITE BEING A FUCKING BLOOD TRAITOR IS A BETTER MAN THEN YOU WILL FUCKING EVER BE! WAS IT BUT 2 YEARS AGO WHEN YOU WELCOMED ME INTO YOUR HOME FOR THAT ENGAGEMENT. YOU FUCKING HYPOCRITE"

Narcissa's voice echoed in the sound-proof halls. But several torture curses were sent her way, her anger seemed to stop them as she screamed at the top of her lungs. The corpse of that bitch who was that sweet girl's mother remained on the floor, trampled by the crowd. Narcissa was satisfied by the fact that Celeste deserved what she got, being stepped and spat upon by her own kind. But she noticed a flurry on the mezzanine and the stunning blonde. He was her son through and through as he sent a curse towards the crowd. Narcissa patiently waited for what was soon to come. She looked at Bellatrix who was helping her up, then at Lucius who was swept away in the crowd. They were going to be punished by the Dark Lord and if it were death. So be it. Narcissa knew that this side were never going to win. She just wished she had Andromeda's courage back then and rebelled too.

Draco's POV

Draco shot a spell, causing and eruption of boils among the crowd, he ran into his room and hid. But he knew there would be repercussions, he knew that they were coming, because as he sat there, he heard footsteps. Taking Astoria's watch with him, putting it on, he crawled under his bed, for just under the head-board, was a secret passage. Pushing on the skirting board, he slid through and closed it again. Wand illuminating the dark space. He crawled for a while, into a room. He sighed and sat down against the wall. This room was secret, no-one could get in unless they knew of the passage in his room. Of which, only perhaps his father and mother knew. He waited there for hours on end, amusing himself by sketching Astoria on the back of an old wizarding-colouring-in-book. He hoped it looked like her, the way her hair curled, her curved eyelashes, her inquisitive eyes that seemed to sparkle with that mischief and that twinge of sorrow in her smile, because she knew that Daphne would always be ahead of her. He looked at the time on his watch, and slumped back against the wall. If he was going to be safe, he would have to wait until night. 5 hours away.

* * *

Astoria's POV

Astoria paced as she waited for Laura to finish in the shower. They had been listening to Potterwatch and she knew that several were dead. Her question was 'how many more?' Laura exited and she entered. Letting the hot water soother her bothered self. Her heart was pounding the way it would when death was imminent, she was stopping herself from running as far away as she could. All those tortures, all those curses later and where were the DA? Cut and bruised. She hoped that Luna, Ginny and Neville were all alright, after what they had been through. Something told them that it was time to go underground. Soon.

* * *

Part 2: The remainder of us

Draco's POV

It was safe. He knew that the death-eaters had gone. He crawled out to see his mother sitting down with his father and Aunt. His so-called-uncle had probably swanned of as he usually did to go drink or murder god-knows how many innocent people.

"Mother. Are you alright?" Draco asked as he realised his mother had been sobbing quietly, his aunt holding onto her.

"Boy, your father has been stripped of his wand." Bellatrix said. Draco took this as her attempt of sympathy,

"Mother, what happened?" Draco asked

"The death eaters turned up to make you retract your engagement to Astoria. I refused." Narcissa said coolly

"They made me torture your mother. After the first go, I stopped and then Celeste Greengrass fought with your mother. Calling her other sister a whore and Sirius Black a blood traitor. Though it is true" Lucius said with some disapprove

"But she called her own Daughter, her own daughter '_that girl'_. What mother does that?" Draco couldn't believe this was coming out of her mother. Of all people, Bellatrix. He knew she was tortured at a young age, he knew she became pregnant. But he also knew she didn't have any children. What happened to his aunt?

"THAT BITCH!" Draco said with anger as he comprehended what his aunt said, over-turning a table. "Where is she?" Draco asked, fuming.

"She's dead. I've seen to that. Oh I murdered her on the spot, I would be proud to confess it and be shipped to Azkaban. But we reversed the memories of all those present. " Narcissa said

"I said I killed her because she insulted the my family, and the edited memories also. So I was stripped of my wand. And that is where we are now."

"Father, you really shouldn't have" Draco said "You should've said a fight erupted"

"It did. Thank you Draco, that distraction helped. Nevertheless, I want to you pay attention wo what happens now. You're about to witness the fall of this side." Narcissa said.

* * *

Astoria's POV

The DA had organised a way of sitting in their compartments, they took up half the carriage. Their fearless leaders: Ginny, Neville and Luna were situated in the middle, so if anyone entered, back or front, there would be protection. It just so happened that an owl flew in Astoria's window. She took the scroll and began to read the spidery writing.

_'My Dearest Astoria,  
Yes, I understand we have never truly met. But you know who I am. I am Draco's mother. I needed to write to you of your mother's death.'  
_Astoria's eyes widened and didn't feel a single tear being shed. It was yes, her mother, but what did her mother mean to her?  
'_Christmas morning I had the pleasure of hosting Death Eater, yes, unconventional Christmas, but nonetheless colourful. They wanted me to retract your engagement to Draco, I refused. I was tortured.'  
_Astoria felt some anger rise, but Narcissa was on the other side. Was she truly? Astoria continued reading  
'_Your mother was among them, she picked me up and began to insult my family. But she touched that tender area. You. She referred to you as 'that girl' and another death eater named you a whore. I did my best you protect you, namely by murdering her. I apologise for the inconvenience.'_  
Narcissa must've been bounding with joy when Celeste was murdered. Astoria laughed, if this was her mother-in-law, she had no objections with her sarcasm and sense of humour.  
'_And I understand I've done you a favour. It's all my pleasure. I know you haven't seen your mother or father since that Christmas party nearly 4 years ago, and I am positive that it was your father who called you a whore. Despite what you might think. Draco does truly love you. As a mother and as a wife, I know he does. He must've been hiding in his secret room when he drew this picture, while I was being torture. But I believe it is from memory. I stole it off his desk while he was sleeping.'  
_ Astoria found it very easy to imagine a sleeping Draco. But she kept her mind away from the wrong-minded things that Draco and a bed were associated with. '_He does love you. And whether you love him or not, when this bloody war is over and you choose to marry him, I have no objections to calling you my daughter, as I did when your mother disowned you.' _Astoria was truly touched and felt tears run down her face.

_'Why am I writing to you all of a sudden. You know that fast-paced heartbeat that you get the first time you find out that you die? That insane longing to run and find someone to talk to, to reassure yourself that there's a reason to live? I felt that the day I was tortured and I ran to you, in a manner of speaking. Astoria, I trust you with my son, if I die in the war with my husband, please take care of him. He's such a child, but with all children, they've lost their innocence in this war. And if I do die, I die in peace, knowing I wrote to you, that sweet-innocent girl all those years back who charmed Draco into giving her his cupcake._

_Sincerely yours,  
Your mother,  
Narcissa Black-Malfoy._

"Tori? Are you alright?" Alex asked.

"Mrs Malfoy defended me against my mother. And killed her." Astoria felt the tears mass up. "That woman deserves more than she's getting." Astoria felt Alex's arm around her shoulders, like a sister. She missed that with Daphne gone. Laura had probably gone to snog Collin, Mia was reading. Alex had been on a muggle-device called a _Tamagotchi_, but it failed to work at Hogwarts. Narcissa Malfoy considered her a daughter. Even if she married Draco, she would gladly have Narcissa as a mother. Astoria remembered the sketch that was enclosed with the scroll, and unfurled it. It was like she was looking into a mirror, back when everything was alright. It was a sketch of herself, from Draco's memory.

"I look _nothing_ like that" Astoria said indignantly "I'm not _that_ pretty"

"To him you are, sweetie" Alex said "And when you marry him in 2 years, I won't be complaining."

"But something's not right. Narcissa wrote it. But it feels wrong, like she thinks her side is going down."

"That makes two of us." Alex said. "She probab-" they were distracted by the fact doors were blown open.

"FUCK!" Alex, Mia, Astoria and Laura who had just entered said as death eaters swarmed the carriage. Jinxes and Hexes were sent, the main goal, protect the carriage.

* * *

DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUHHHHHNNNNN!

Well, isn't _that_ a cliffhanger. Now, please leave reviews. I would really appreciate it.

Now, if you have any ideas on what the DA get up to when they're bored, underground in the Room of Requirement, because as we know, by the Battle, they're all hiding out there. And to people who remeber 1998, there were Tamagochi's, right? Coz i had a really old version in 2000/2001. So yeah, hope i haven't reduced anyone to tears, if you read 'No One Knew'


	17. 1997 (Effectively though 1998) Part 4

A/N: Well, i don't have any more exams for the rest of the year (School in Australia starts Jan, ends Dec.) Except my shit patchwork pillow. Now, i apologize for the wait, i was studying, doing projects, writing speeches, practicing a way to commit suicide for an English speech. yeah. i jumped off a table. My character feels guilty for the hundreds of deaths in the war, and then her new friend, a witch ( i made witches good people and faeries bad), dies protecting her (sound familiar guys, sound familiar), then she commits suicide, after telling her cousin, who hasn't been in the story until the last 20 seconds that she's going to be queen. Yeah. Now, updating should be much faster.

Once again, i own nothing except my ideas and Alex, Laura, Mia, Ella, Celeste, Orion and that's about it.

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 17: Dark Days

Part 1: The Power of Three

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Was heard down one half of the corridor.

"STUPEFY!" another said

"MUCUS AD NAUSEUM!" an Irish voice said. Astoria whipped out her wand and shouted at the on-coming horde: "LOCOMOTOR WIBBLY!" Harry had taught them well, as many hexes and spells as they could. She caused one death-eater to collapse another person's shoes became stuck to the floor.

"NO!" Astoria heard as the remaining 5 death-eaters made their way to the middle of the left aisle, pushing and shoving, but the DA were nothing matched to their Cruciatus curses.

"Stupefy!" Neville said as he unexpectedly opened the door, hitting one straight in the face. Ginny Wordlessly performed her bat-bogey hex, while the other half of the left aisle came down and began performing more jinxes. But they had gotten through the barrier and someone was taken.

"NO LUNA!" Neville shouted, a curse hitting a death eater, but it was too late. They had her and they apparated away. Neville looked as if he could kill. Ginny looked as if she had lost everything and in general, the DA were at breaking point.

"Fuck." Alex muttered. "They've got her." That was when Ginny had a brain wave, she ushered everyone into the compartment and began.

"If you parents or relatives are being Outspoken with the dark side. Send them a letter now. Tell them to go into hiding. They've taken Luna because Xeno Lovegood's _Quibbler_ is supporting Harry."

"Can we increase meetings? Quidditch has been disbanded." Seamus said in the corner "We've lost a lot of our Muggle borns ever since this bloody ministry took them all."

"Yes, I think we should. Just check your coins every day, and for the 5th and 7th years, we've got our OWLS and NEWTS coming up, so we should all meet up to study. We haven't got Hermione to help us, so we need each other." Neville said

"Okay, first one will be tonight. Just check them" Ginny said as they all left for their own compartments."

"We've lost the power of three." Astoria said as they sat back down in the compartment

"But they're the dynamic duo. What can't they do?" Laura said as she looked out the window.

* * *

Later that Evening

"We all got here okay?" Neville asked as everyone sat down in the Room of Requirement.

"Yeah." Most people chorused back

"Does anyone know if people are going to get tortured and stuff tonight?" Ginny asked.

"People in my grade, some Gryffindors." A 6th year Hufflepuff said "Then a couple of 1st year Ravenclaws."

"How do you know? Is there a list?" Neville asked

"Yeah, in front of the Carrow's office." She said

"Okay, can someone write down all the names on the list, at lunch or something? That way we know when we need to free people. And we'll set a roster for who helps free them."

"Okay, I'll go out." Ernie Macmillan said

"So will I" Seamus said.

"You two, cover each other's backs. I'm not going to forgive anyone if they come back murdered. Understood?" Ginny said. Everyone nodded, in fear of what the youngest Weasley could do to them. Ernie and Seamus vanished and the waiting game began. But after 30 minutes, they became worried, Neville was pacing back and forth, Ginny was sitting with her head in her hands, knowing something went wrong. They were all awoken from their stupor by the sound of footsteps.

"We g-got it" Seamus said

"Mate, what happened to your face." Astoria only just realised what Neville meant, the large gash on his cheek

"Ran into Crabbe and Goyle" Ernie said "Caused a bit of a mess. Namely a fire in a corridor, but the staff put it out by the time we left."

"And how, may I ask, did you do that?" Ginny asked looked at both of them and summoning a bottle of dittany from the corner

"We were being chased in an abandoned corridor, and we were going to be outnumbered. So we charmed the torches to cause a fire, then we ran for it. But the debris got us." Seamus said, extremely proud of himself. "It's fine."

"No, it's not." Ginny said, running to get another bottle of dittany, throwing it to the two, to dab on the wounds. "We need to be more careful if we keep doing this. This isn't what Harry, Ron or Hermione would want"

"We have the list." Neville said. "And looks like detention will not be, being chained to a wall."

"What is it then?" Someone piped up

"They'll be tortured in a group. As practise for Dark Arts" Neville said disgusted "The people doing the torturing will be in a group too. No way of getting out of this one."

"Neville. We can _try_." Susan Bones said, sitting in the corner, with all the other Hufflepuffs.

* * *

"It's just a scratch. Chill." Neville said, as several students tended to Neville's gash across his face

"Neville, _how_ and _why_ did you get. That." Astoria pointed to the large, red mark, bleeding blood across his cheek. Astoria had been sent to fetch the dittany from a cupboard, only realising how serious it was getting.

"The Carrows were going on about blood supremacy. Asked how much muggle blood she and her brother got." Neville said

"Blimey, mate. That's harsh." Seamus said, as he dabbed some of the potion on.

"Yeah, Neville, that was really stupid" Susan said "Ginny, have we got anymore news?"

"No, just more deaths. Dean isn't on the list. Harry, Ron and Hermione aren't either." Ginny said, throwing back her head in bitterness

"If the ministry's got them, they would publicise it." Alex said "It's been months and they haven't turned up anywhere."

"Well they're doing a bloody good job." Romilda Vane said "Most people are dead now. We can hardly do anything."

"We keep fighting. That's important. Luna's name didn't turn up either, she isn't dead. We can keep going." Collin said, sitting next to Laura. Astoria noted that it was time someone had luck with love in this war. And those two were the perfect pair. Then wondering how a muggle-born like Collin Creevy was still there, after all, only Alex was descended from a wizard family less than a couple of generations back.

"Okay. I want some of you to intervene with these torturings. Parvati, Lavender, can you monitor the crowd from a distance. Send us a warning when things get out of hand. Terry, Anthony and Collin, I want you lot to be in the crowd. Collin just act like you're meant to be there, they won't trust you because you're in Gryffindor. Then cause a ruckus, and get out of there." Neville said, looking at people in the crowd. The plan had been set.

* * *

"MERLIN'S SAGGIEST LEFT!" Ginny screamed out as they brought in Michael Corner, Astoria looked around. Michael was unconscious, unable to stand, the others had brought him in.

"He tried releasing a first year." Terry said, placing him on a mound of cushions.

"What are we supposed to do?" someone said. People were running about, trying to help. But the best they could to was let him rest, with people standing by should he get worse

"Oi, you lot. Group meeting" Neville said "We need to stop this. No more major stunts. As of now. We are officially underground."

* * *

Part 2: And then there was One.

"Alright, you lot, how did OWLS go?" Neville said, talking to the students who had taken their OWLS today. Astoria was disgusted at the questions for 'Defence against the so-called Dark Arts'. It was actually called that, and Astoria felt like ripping it up. It was just about torture and the only way Astoria might've passed, was by writing the way her dead mother would, and being absolutely cruel. She imagined that she was torturing her mother, for all she had done to her and others.

"DADA was an essay on how to torture people." Astoria said in a straight-forward manner

"Bastards." Neville said "Right, we all know Ginny went into hiding. She didn't come back after the holidays, so we need to keep hidden even better, we can't just keep prancing around like hippogriffs."

"Neville, they know you're the one behind it all now, because your angels are gone." Collin said

"I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE!" Alex said brightly "Sorry. I like Charlie's Angels." Alex apologised sheepishly.

"Yeah, they'll come down hard, mate, they're going to start threatening people close to you. Makes sense, dunnit?" Michael Corner said "Get kids to behave by threatening their parents. But this time, threatening parents to make the kids shut up."

"We're Outspoken with You-know-who, and that's all that counts." Astoria said, looking at the scene unfolding. People were getting hurt, sent to the hospital wing close to death, kids being tortured. It was a concentration camp that wasn't impartial to any race, gender or age.

* * *

"Neville's been missing for days, I haven't seen him for days on end." Susan Bones was telling Astoria in confidence

"So has most of the Gryffindors in the D.A" Astoria said, whispering "Look, they've been going strategically, I reckon. Because, Neville was first, then Seamus, Collin, a couple of the Ravenclaw boys, then Lavender Brown, Romilda Vane, Parvati Patil, Padma. So I think they're all." She was stopped as McGonagall walked past and nodded her head at the two "In hiding" Astoria finished

"Okay, we need to spread word." Susan said "I think we'll get all the Hufflepuff seniors to leave, then we'll smuggle you a note, saying, um, 'The troops retreat'. Then you can organise in your group who vanishes first." Susan said, before they fled into their dorms. Astoria spent her days telling Mia, Laura and Alex, tension mounted every day as she waited for the note. It wasn't until the end of the second week when she received the note.

"Okay." Alex said, reading the smuggled note, hidden in Astoria's pocket, that she hadn't noticed existed.

"I want Alex to go first, she's a muggle born. We need to not draw attention. It'll look like she was never here in the first place." Astoria said. Alex looked panic, but the look she had gained from Astoria, Laura and Mia had stopped her from protesting. Now was not the time to fight.

"Okay, then Mia, because your parents are in the Ministry, and under suspicion. Then Laura, because you're from Australia, and right now, they're against You-know-who. I'll go last because my mother's a death eater, and I'll survive longer than all of you because I'm talented." She joked, gaining 'bitch, please' faces from the three.

"No, Astoria, you're a blood traitor, you can't." Laura said

"No, I'm a pure blood, for once, I should be untouchable." Astoria protested, getting more pissed as time went by.

"And, Astoria, I saw Draco, sketching. Again. Expect a full-body-naked-portrait of you in the next few days." Mia added. Astoria threw a quill at her, even though she knew the jest was to cheer all of them up.

Alex vanished the next morning, extremely early, carrying most of Laura, Mia and her (Alex's) muggle clothes and essentials with her. Astoria had to act normal, she deflected questions that teachers threw at her when they called Alex's name on the register. Astoria knew that if she persisted long enough, they would begin to doubt their memory. McGonagall, Slughorn, Flitwick and Sprout had given her the knowing look, understanding what was happening, as only those four really knew what was going on, with the gradual retreat of all the D.A students.

Mia was next, vanishing on the way back supposedly after their last lesson on the Wednesday. Alex had taken all of Mia's clothes, that way, they could vanish on the way to/from lessons. Laura sprinted to the seventh floor, after a midnight astronomy lesson. Leaving Astoria on her own. She had spied Susan, who covertly handed her a note, telling her the people that had vanished since Neville. Astoria was one of the last, with Susan. The two agreed that they would vanish mid-lesson (for Astoria), during her muggle studies class. Her equipment that had been left behind would be collected covertly by Ella Noble, her friend, the Ravenclaw Prefect, and member of the D.A

"Professor, permission to go to the lavatory?" Astoria asked sweetly to Professor Carrow

"Granted." Carrow said. Astoria knew that the closest lavatory was Moaning Myrtle's. Susan had agreed to meet her there, as she had a free period, together, the two creeped past teachers, taking all the secret passages they knew, reaching the secret room safely.

"THANK MERLIN" Alex said, hugging Astoria, the moment she got in. Astoria had barely been able to take in the new surroundings. It was just like before, but with 3 large Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw banners, and giant hammocks, that surrounded the room, a couple of muggle sleeping bags were on the floor, she guessed for Ella Noble, as she suffered from vertigo.

"Yeah. Nice bathroom by the way. What do you do for food?" Astoria asked Neville

"Secret passage to Hog's Head. Aberforth Dumbledore, Dumbledore's brother gets us food." Astoria never knew Dumbledore had a younger brother, the news, somehow made Dumbledore much more human. "Oh, the last people to arrive will be Ella Noble and Ernie Macmillan."

"Okay, that almost all of us. Call it a night guys, food's coming in a couple of minutes.

* * *

"Thanks Rodent." A deep voice, Astoria recognised as Professor Lupin said "We have some breaking news" The room collectively gasped "Death Eaters have it that a high security vault in Gringotts has been broken into by none other than our very own golden trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione." Cheers filled the room as the candles in the jar continued to flicker throughout the room. The ghostly lights were comforting yet frightening. "Goblins however will not disclose the item that has been stolen by the three, but we all know, that it must be important. Do not lose hope, Harry and his friends are still alive. Word also has it that Miss Luna Lovegood and Mr Garrick Ollivander are now safe and their current whereabouts have been stable as of a few months ago. Not to mention, the trio rode away on a dragon" The relief that swept over them was immense. Then the list of deaths. Dean Thomas hadn't turned up, so she supposed it was lucky.

"And just for a bit of joy, our resident friend, Moony, is a father to a son, whom we shall code-name 'Turquoise Wolf.'" Astoria heard shouts of indignation from Lupin, as girls promptly squealed at the news, while boys laughed in happiness.

"Please, no, not 'Turquoise Wolf' ." Lupin said "Let's leave it at there tonight, stay safe and keep believing." The show ended and the muggle radio ceased to glow the blue light.

"A DRAGON!" an excited 4th year said, that promptly started the conversations. The D.A were family now, but for how much longer until they were all broken apart?

* * *

Yeah, that's it. That means next Chapter: BATTLE OF HOGWARTS. And character deaths. I'm sorry, i'm so sorry. Like my 'part' titles? I got them from Doctor Who and Miss Marple. AND REVIEW OR ELSE...

Youtube this song: Keep Awake by 100 Monkeys.

You'll understand


	18. May 1998

A/N: First of all, i apologise for the wait. How many months? (shudder). The main reason was i hit a writers block, no motivation whatsoever, and i was on holidays all december, then i swear, school starts and dumps exams and assessments on me. Time does fly. Now, i hope this is substantially better than what i usually write. More Drastoria than ever before and i swear, after this chapter, two things will happen:

1) YES THEY GET MARRIED! Not yet, hey, i want to write some flirty work scenes, okay and

2) It's going to be much happier. Okay, so depression, but you know, more rainbows, sass and fluff.

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. I'M JUST A FANGIRL NOBODY LOVES ME (SHE'S JUST A FAN FROM A CRAZY FANDOM, SPARE HER LIFE FROM DEPRESSING HIATUS) sorry, love Bohemian Rhapsody

* * *

The Outspoken Chapter 18

Part 1: Tomorrow When The War Began

Astoria, Alex, Mia and Laura had been sitting in the room of requirement for days on end. They were so bored that in their spare time, Astoria had learnt to braid several different types of braids on Mia's straight brunette hair and learnt how to magically curl Laura's silky and straight blonde hair. But what was also worrying her, was the fact she hadn't seen Draco for weeks, it was like her life revolved around his existence? She was worried at that point, since when was she the type to pine away for boys? But on the up side, she finished all those muggle 'Sherlock Holmes' books. They were good. Neville had just gone out to Hog's Head, when she received the shock of her life.

"OH MY GOD!" Astoria pointed, where the portrait hole opened. Harry, Ron and Hermione had exited with Neville, they all knew what it meant, they were overthrowing the Carrows and Snape. Astoria just sat there, watching, listening. They really were back, but she didn't understand how they weren't fighting. They didn't even know what they were bloody looking for. But a newly-returned Luna (along with Ginny, several Weasleys, Lupin and other people Astoria was probably too young to remember) suggested Ravenclaw's diadem. So Harry and Luna had gone in search, to Ravenclaw tower. Many people had gone up to Hermione and Ron, or Ginny and the others who had long graduated, to ask what life had been like. Astoria alone had seen them sneak towards the door, casting a shield charm, she stepped in front of them.

"And just where do you two think you're going?" Astoria asked

"Astoria, we need to go somewhere" Hermione said rushed

"What? To shag?" Astoria asked sarcastically

"No, no, no, no" Hermione and Ron said in unison

"Where to then?"

"We need to look for something" Ron said. Astoria nodded and removed the shield charm. She walked around the room, looking for people to talk to

"Hello professor" Astoria said brightly to Lupin, seeing Alex, Laura and Mia there

"Hello Astoria, I was just showing your friends my son's baby photo." Lupin said, Astoria peered over to see the most goddamn fucking adorable baby in existence, waving his little fist at the camera

"What's his name?" Laura asked

"Teddy, after Tonk's dad" He said. Astoria noted the peculiarity that was Teddy's hair colour, turning turquoise, then flaming red.

"He's a metamorphagus?" Astoria asked

"He doesn't seem to show any signs of lycanthropy" Lupin said happily. Astoria had never seen her old teacher look this happier, or brighter. It seemed Teddy Lupin would be the first of a new generation of children, to live in peace. As long as they defeated Voldemort. No pressure.

* * *

"Your headmaster, to use the common phrase, has done a bunk" McGonagall said, you could tell the woman was a badass, she was stopping the urge of squealing while speaking those words. Very promptly the school had burst into cheers. Yet, they were informed, only those of age could fight. One by one, the people began to file out of the hall, several forced from the tables, as they were underage. But Astoria was a member of Dumbledore's Army, she had no intention of fleeing, so when it came their turn, Astoria turned from the table, yet winking at Collin who had stayed behind, she was going to sneak back.

"Astoria, you better not be sneaking back." Alex warned

"Dumbledore's Army was one thing, but this is completely different. This is war, Tori, and you _will_ die" Laura warned, Mia nodded.

"I won't be sneaking back." Astoria lied. They made their way to the seventh floor corridor and people entered through the portrait hole. It was a confused mess and that was all she needed, in the midst of the crowd she spotted a flash of bleach blond, but nothing more. Alex, Laura and Mia had all gone through the hole, so she sprinted back out of the room, walking through the halls of familiar wanderings, eventually reaching the great hall.

"Creevy, I see you and I think very alike" Astoria noted, as Collin stood next to her, at the back of the hall.

"You're younger than me, you shouldn't be here"

"Don't really care about that." Kingsley and Lupin were sent to station the members of Dumbledore's Army, Collin and Astoria were stationed together on a landing of steps, behind a tapestry.

"Hopefully no one looks here, it's a secret passage." Collin said

"Bloody hell, we have to be ready" Astoria said, leaning against the wall

"Protego" Collin cast a shield charm over the entrance

"Listen, should anyone of us, get left behind, you don't come back. You leave and run, our doom is practically imminent" Astoria began

"Yes, that would be good. Why are you staying back?" Collin wondered.

"Same reason you are, Voldemort's a no-nosed bastard who needs to be killed." Astoria said lightly, trying to put a brighter turn on things.

* * *

Draco's POV

Draco ran for it, he ran from the room of requirement, he ran like no tomorrow. Crabbe had died, but oddly enough, he felt no grief, not to such an extent, all he felt guilty for was the vague friendship. He cast spells at death eaters, not caring about the fact he'd given up on his side. He'd refused to name Potter at Malfoy Manor, his parents were both disowned by the dark side, there was nothing more to lose. Except Astoria. He was doing this for her. Several of his spells hit death eaters coming in for the kill, it must be a wonderful elated feeling to be a 'good person'. But he never really knew what a so-defined 'good-person' was.

"What the fuck are you doing Malfoy spawn?" the masked death eater drawled

"I'm Draco, I'm on your side!" Draco protested, however to his amusement, an invisible arm stunned the death eater and then punched him. He grinned in bemusement as the owner of the arm shouted:

"That's the second time tonight we've saved your life tonight, you two-faced bastard!" He shouted.

* * *

"For a two-faced bastard, I would add sexy into that sentence" Astoria said, sneaking up behind Draco

"Astoria? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!? YOU'RE UNDERAGE!" Draco was initially surprised before reprimanding her

"Stupefy. I just saved your fucking life" Astoria said stunning the death eater who had recovered, before grabbing Draco's wrist. They climbed winding stairs together, watching their fellow students die, avenging their deaths and jinxing death eaters moving in for the kill. But soon they were surrounded by a few death eaters, clichéd back to back with Draco, wand arms drawn out and pointing.

"Wait 'til I give my signal" Draco whispered into her ear (best he probably could anyway), they continued to pace in a circle before Draco shouted; "Now"

"Stupefy"

"Impedimenta"

"Expelliarmus"

"Stupefy"

They shouted spells, as many as they could. Astoria could tell Draco was casting some of them non-verbally. Eventually one-by-one the death-eaters fell and they continued running.

"Not too bad for a fifth year" Draco teased

"Could've done better if you weren't in my way" Astoria retorted back.

It seemed they were duelling for hours, stunning here and there, hiding every now and then. Watching someone she knew die every three seconds it seemed. And it wasn't. life was never fair, she grasped that concept, but didn't realise it could be this cruel. These 'soldiers' were but children and that was what sickened her. This war was about a cruel man, killing all who stood in his path, just to find one man, and kill him. But Astoria would be proud just to die in this battle, because there was the tiny, shimmering glimpse of hope, that it would be the last any of the people within the castle would fight. Eventually the fighting stopped. It was about midnight and the fighting stopped. Astoria looked at Draco.

"You're safe, thank Merlin" Draco said

"No, I can't. People are dead." Astoria said in a harsh voice. "They'll all be in the great hall." Draco took her by the arm and pulled her into a warm embrace, the scent of Draco, peppermint to be exact overwhelmed her.

"We'll go. Just calm down." Draco said, Astoria felt herself being supported, her shoulders being squeezed slightly by Draco Malfoy, as she walked down familiar halls. It felt like yesterday when she was a first year, everything was still alright and Harry Potter with his two best friends would get up to all sorts of fuckery. She entered the Great Hall and she immediately faltered in her step, unable to stand. More than 50 people dead. At the end she could see a gathering of Weasleys, the only one missing was Fred, or George, she couldn't tell and she couldn't go on. A little bit further down was Professor Lupin and his wife, Tonks. Astoria grasped Draco's wrist, she couldn't handle it. Lupin had just had a _son._ She walked away from them, unable to stand the pain, but it merely got worse. Collin Creevy was dead. Laura's boyfriend, the only one it seemed, for her, was dead. Then came the bodies of Lavender Brown, one of Hermione's dorm mates and a girl, Cho Chang. Astoria knew her, she was the one who dated Cedric and Harry, but she was dead, to be with Cedric. The night blazed, it seemed the sky was tinted with red, so many had died in faith, and so many were there to mourn them.

"They're all gone." Astoria said "Fuck him, fuck him and his army"

"Astoria." Draco said "Calm down, if you want to take them down, you need to fight" Astoria looked at Draco, a thought washing over her

"Why are you here? You're with him."

"I snuck back, initially to take Harry to him. But I couldn't. I stayed, fought. I knew it was all wrong, I defended Harry when he was taken to Malfoy Manor, and I will again" Draco said grimly, arm around her shoulder as they sat together during the ceasefire. She hoped Daphne was safe. Daphne who'd helped get up to mischief all those years ago, Daphne who cared, even though she knew she was the favourite. Daphne had a heart, and if she was dead, then why should she still be alive? Draco's warmth felt so nice, even if it was for the next few minutes. Their hour was up, and where the hell was Harry Potter. The minutes past like heavy stones falling into the calm water, the tension lay heavy in the hall. Professors were there healing the hurt, students in the arms of other students, as they consoled each other, and it wasn't right. Then the message hit them, Voldemort himself walked into Hogwarts. The final defence had fallen. Harry was dead.

"No!" McGonagall screeched. Astoria felt a warm tear leave her left eye, that woman was almost like a grandmother.

"Harry, Harry, HARRY!" It was Ron, Hermione and heartbreakingly Ginny. Astoria tuned out, unable to comprehend that Harry was dead. _Harry Potter_ was dead, there was nothing more they could do, but they could still fight, for as long as they lived. Astoria looked up at Draco, he wasn't crying, but his face looked so forlorn, it broke her heart. The couldn't listen until Neville moved through, speaking clearly and with conviction, but it was his final words that had struck accord with every person standing on their side.

"I'LL JOIN YOU WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER! DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY!" Neville shouted, They had broken ranks and cheered. But Voldemort had other plans. The sorting hat was placed on an immobilised Neville and it began to burn, but then, the chaos began.

* * *

Part 2: Final Glory.

Astoria heard people, calling for each other. Her ears had pricked up when she'd heard the name 'Draco.' Draco had stopped in his tracks, knowing that those were his parents. Astoria looked into his eyes, knowing what he'd want to do next.

"Go." Astoria said curtly before rejoining the fray. She looked to her left and right, unable to see past anything. She stunned anyone wearing death eater robes, not caring, it was nearly over… she could feel it. The hall had somehow eventually spread out into two duels: Bellatrix Lestrange and Molly Weasley. Astoria couldn't believe it, Molly Weasley. She had good reason and Astoria was happy for her. The other duel was between Voldemort, Kingsley, McGonagall and someone, she'd forgotten the name… how stupid, it was a Hogwarts professor, but the night was playing with her mind.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH" still rang in Astoria's ears after Molly had pulled Hermione, Luna and Ginny away, but the two witches were still in battle, before, Bellatrix fell, her body falling as her gloating smile was erased. Voldemort's features contorted into rage, but before being able to kill Molly, a shield charm erupted and for the first time. Harry Potter emerged. 'Bastard' she thought.

The two began to circle, throwing taunts, the room was deathly silent. Astoria could feel it, it was almost over. She would be home, she'd have Daphne, she'd be back in the Gryffindor common room having a right old time with her mates. But there was the bittersweet part, the deaths, all the friends she'd had, a lot of them were dead and broken. She didn't even know what had happened to Laura, Alex, Mia, and Ella Noble.

"You see the wand's true owner was Draco Malfoy." Harry sprung out, while taunting Voldemort. Astoria's eyes searched through the crowd. 'Draco.' Was all she thought. She located his tall, slight frame and blond hair in the crowd, looking nervous, eyes darting about like a rabbit. From what Harry had been saying, Draco disarmed Dumbledore, Draco possessed the wand without knowing, Harry then disarmed Draco, thus Harry is now the master of that wand, whatever it was. That meant Harry had the upper hand. The two continued taunting and the sun's rays were beginning to show just over the tips of the hills.

"AVADA KEDAVRA" Voldemort shouted

"EXPELLIARMUS" Harry shouted, the two spells met in the middle, a golden-like flame erupted between the two, the light blinding everyone in the room, and quicker than Astoria could blink; Voldemort crumpled, his empty shell falling on the floor of the hall. There was a split second silence before Harry's two best friends ran to him, followed by several others. Everyone broke into a run to surround Harry. The Man who killed Voldemort. It was over and the golden days had returned. But so much darker and so much sadder than ever before. In the sheer joy of their freedom, Draco grabbed Astoria by the waist, pulling her into a kiss, her lips crashing onto his, as she returned his kiss, his hands running down her back, as she pulled in tighter. It felt like an odd mixture between the warmth of Butterbeer and the shocking stun of a cruciatus curse.

The tables had returned, but no one was sitting by house, it was all mixed up. Teachers, students, families, house elves, centaurs and even a giant sitting out the window. Astoria's found herself in Draco's warmth, his arm wound around hers, his other hand clasped in hers.

"Mother?" Draco said softly. Astoria looked up at him, she could see his face, worry filling his clear, grey eyes. Astoria could see what he had spotted, Narcissa and Lucius, sitting together, looking for him.

"Come" Astoria said, pulling both of them up. "I've been meaning to talk to your mother." Together, they walked, if anything, bravely towards the Malfoy couple. Astoria could see Narcissa's eyes, they filled with some light now, as she saw her son move towards her.

"Draco" Narcissa said almost breathless.

"I'm so sorry." Lucius got up, Astoria let go of Draco, as he was pulled into a tight hug from his father.

"I'll go…" Astoria said tailing off, as she wandered out of the hall, fear overtaking, wondering how Mia, Alex and Laura were all coping.

* * *

Alexandra's POV

"I WILL FUCKING KILL HER AND FUCKING SCATTER HER FUCKING REMAINS WHEN I FUCKING GET MY HANDS ON HER." Alex raged, as she sat with Mia and Laura in Mia's house, in Leadworth. She was pulled tightly into a bear hug by her two friends, trying to comfort her.

"Alex, this is Tori, she does shit crazy stuff and there's nothing we can do. If we sneak back into Hogwarts, we'll all die. Especially you, the Ministry let you slide, but this is war." Mia reminded her. Alex couldn't comprehend what was going on, Astoria had ditched her, they were in a corridor together and she'd snuck back. Alex half wished she'd snuck back as well, but there was too much to live for. And she hated her disloyalty.

"I feel so bad, leaving her, if I knew how to do a talking patronus, I would." Laura said wistfully, they'd been sitting there for hours, day had broken.

"I think I might be able to. God help me, I don't think I can think of anything happy enough." Alex said, flipping her short hair forward and tousling it in frustration.

"It doesn't have to be happy, remember what you two were talking about during DA? Powerful" Mia replied. Alex pulled out her wand, hand trembling. Last time she did this, she got a patronus on her first go. Alex focused, trying to keep calm, thinking inexplicably of the one thing she needed, her best friend to be alive and happy. It felt as if someone was wrenching her soul from her, as she proceeded to think of a message (Please, please be alive.), before her nightingale flew from the window, she blacked out.

* * *

It was a beautiful day, it really was. But it was so grim, marred by all the deaths. Astoria was sitting on the jetty, on the Great Lake, feet lapping in the water.

"Is this seat taken?" Narcissa Malfoy had moved up to her.

"No, it isn't, Ma'am." Astoria replied politely. Narcissa removed her boots, popping her feet into the water.

"Feels like years since I was here, feet in the water on the weekends, studying with Lucius and Andromeda, mind you, not much work was done during that time." Narcissa said

"Other than snogging I presume?" Astoria replied cheekily.

"Haha, other than snogging, my dear" Narcissa laughed. Astoria was charmed by Narcissa's tinkling laugh, her kindness, as if her veil had been dropped.

"Thank you, by the way, for the letter. It meant a lot. Oh, and thanks for killing my mother off. Never really liked her." Astoria said, looking Narcissa in the eye. She'd meant it, she hated her mother, she was always shunned. Astoria knew Daphne had found out, but Daphne had written back strongly, but she had no idea on how she was really coping.

"No, thank you my dear, for Draco." Narcissa said in turn "He's such a broken boy, whatever the Dark Lord did to him, he just shattered, but you were there. You're beautiful, charming, smart. Yes I admit, a bit too cheeky and mischievous for your own goof." She added in a teasing tone "But, I can't help but apologise, you were never meant to be the Malfoy Bride. I didn't want you dragged into what I was forced into. Gryffindor or not, you are the best choice for him. Should you pick him or not"

"Wait, what do you mean 'pick?'"

"The Dark Lord is dead, tradition stands no more. You are at free will to do as you please, within reasonable range of course. If I was born in a different time, I'd be a member of the Wizenagemot. But, no, pureblood supremacy. There's a lot to be said about Slytherin house, Miss Greengrass. So many had fought on the light side tonight, so many had killed their own parents. I don't think prejudice should remain"

"Except against Hufflepuff" Astoria joked

"No, Hufflepuff is a wonderful house. I pity my sister; Andromeda. She has lost all but her grandson." Narcissa said sadly

"Not you, however." Astoria tried comforting her

"The Dark Lord never grew up. He doesn't love. That was his downfall, he didn't notice that all his allies had grown up, had children, and he underestimates the love a parent has for its child. One day, I hope you'll understand"

"I'm _not_ having sex with Draco anytime soon, if that's what you're insinuating."

"No, but, as parents, even as Death Eaters, our priorities have changed. He hadn't noticed. I'm so proud of Draco, he fought on the right side, he fought for all the right reasons. Love and for freedom."

"One day, the world will be better." Astoria said, as she felt a motherly hug come from Narcissa Malfoy.

"That day for Draco starts with you, Astoria."

* * *

Okay, oh yeah, this is book canon with a bit of headcanon mashed in. I loved the movie confrontation where Draco is forced to join Narcissa and Lucius, but it would mean that he couldn't fight with Astoria. Still, the movie came out the day before my brithday in Australia, (released 13/7), so JKROWLING and Warner Brothers gave me Post-Potter depression for my birthday. Lovely. Heads up, next chapter will be skipping a couple of years. Or i just might finish this fic off here, seeing nobody reads this. Please review/follow/favourite and check out my other stories if you want.

Love you,

Hermione-amelia-rose1479 (consulting-timelord-of-mischief on tumblr)


End file.
